The Reborn Warriors
by Matt Coates
Summary: A crossover between Evangelion and Warhammer 40,000, after 3rd Impact, Asuka and Shinji get involved in a much larger war, against enemies more inhuman then the angels ever could be. Now they have to fight the the Horus Hearsay
1. Prologue

Evangelion and any associated characters are the property of GAINAX.

Warhammer 40,000 and any associated characters are the property of Games Workshop.

**The Reborn Warriors**

**Prologue**

Lilith felt Rei's soul fade into her own. Already she could feel her body undergo the shifts as she imposed Rei's physical template over her own. Lilith turned her mind outwards, feeling all of humanity, touching every soul. Above, she felt Shinji and Unit 01, locked into the Red Earth ceremony, call to her. She began to rise from the cross that had held her for so long.

_STOP! _Lilith stopped in surprise as the voice reverberated in her mind. Turning her own mind outwards, she found the mind that had spoken to her.

_Who are you? _She asked._ Your mind seems…so different, yet familiar to me_.

There was the sound of chuckling. _I suppose…you could say I am the first._

Lilith felt her forehead crease in a slight frown; a strange sensation that apparently came with her new, human-like body. _Surely…the first Rei clone died at the hands of Doctor __Akagi?_

_Ah…no. What I meant was, I am the first human-angel hybrid test subject. I was created by SEELE before Rei, but they used artificial methods to try and 'speed up' my development to get a better test subject quickly. While my human DNA grew at the accelerated rates intended, the Angel DNA refused to respond to the treatment. The upshot of this is that while I was still a fetus, the angel DNA was 'clipped' out of my DNA chain and became a group of closed-off loops that didn't interact with anything else. It's the reason why Rei and Tibris were allowed to develop at a more normal rate._

_Then you are human?_

_Not exactly… The Angel DNA, before it was removed, altered the activities of several gene sequences. The upshot seems to be that I am practically immortal, I have these psychic abilities and my basic physiology is much more efficient then a human. I am an improved human._

_But Seele wanted a hybrid. They would have killed even a superhuman failure._

_They do think that I am dead. I used my abilities to fool them with the illusion of my demise, allowing me to escape. Since then, I have been watching the events leading up to this with great interest._

_You knew that 3rd Impact would occur?_

_Yes._

_I am surprised you did nothing to prevent it. Seele are bringing about 3rd Impact because they are a bunch of 'spoiled brats' that fear death. But even an immortal like you would not be immune to this event. Why did you not stop it?_

_Interesting, I would not have thought that Rei would be so…outspoken._

_Rei's soul is merely a fragment of me, if admittedly a dominant one. I have been absorbing the souls of the dead since long before I was found by SEELE's operatives, so my personality is hence larger and more developed. My question still stands, however._

_It's true, I could have stopped it. I could have controlled Shinji while he was in Unit 01 and vanquished the Angels quickly and easily, I could have altered Gendo's mind to stop him abandoning his son, or I could have turned Seele into mind puppets to control everything. But 2nd Impact occurred before I was made, and even with all my power, I could not have prevented the 3rd from occurring. My interfering would probably have made things worse, and this way, everyone who wants 3rd Impact are…easy to find._

_I see. But what makes you think that I will stop?_

_One of my abilities is a form of precognition. If 3rd Impact occurs, those who survive or come back from it will build a stunted, broken society that will not even cover the planet before dying out. Yet I see that if 3rd Impact is not completed, humanity will spread across the stars, creating a glorious civilization. You can examine my memories for yourself if you wish._ There was a pause as Lilith did just that.

_You are right. Why do you think this will stop me, however?_

_What mother would not give her children the brightest possible future?_ There was a long pause.

_You have a point,_ she admitted grudgingly.

_So you will allow this to continue?_ Lilith opened her eyes.

"No."

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"The anti-A.T. field is reaching…" Maya Ibuki was saying in the control room before stopping dead as her console beeped.

"What is it?" Shigeru Aoba found himself asking.

"This, can't be right…" Maya murmured, as she typed, before shaking her head. "According to the Magi, the field is…focusing on several places both inside and outside the Geofront." She turned to face Fuyutsuki. "Sir, what's going on?"

Fuyutsuki shook his head. "I…have no idea."

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Throughout the world, the anti-A.T. field focused itself with all the precision of an expert assassin. Twelve of the world's oldest and most powerful men collapsed into a mess of LCL, clothes and metal implants.

Gendo, still in shock at Rei's betrayal, broke apart into LCL, mingling with the LCL stored in the vast pool under Lilith's cross, his glasses drifting to the bottom of the tank.

Many of Seele's most trusted operatives, the men of the JSSDF still in the Geofront, everyone who was directly involved with and wanted 3rd Impact collapsed into the primordial water officially called LCL.

The surviving MP Evas collapsed, crushing some of the surviving ruins, or exploded, raining large chunks of cloned Angel meat and shards of metal on the remains of Tokyo-3. The half transformed Lancea Longinus ripped it's way out of Unit 01 reforming from a cross shape back into its original shape of a two-headed spear. Unit-01 staggered as it hit the ground, before collapsing next to Unit-02's half-eaten body.

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3rd Impact was over.

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"Why?"

The man on the left, Fuyutsuki paused, looking over two Evas in front of him. Two of the cages, badly damaged by SEELE's attack on the Geofront, had been reassembled in a new pattern. The purple Unit 01 stood silently in its restraints, while the newly regenerated red Unit 02 was supported alongside it. A faint hum could be heard in the background and the eyes of both Units glowed with faint power.

"Why have them repaired? Or why have them powered? Same answer to both questions; they deserve it." Fuyutsuki paused for a second, apparently in deep thought. "When Unit 02 was hit by the copies of the Lancea Longinus, apparently one of the side-effects was to force a 400 synch ratio, probably to ensure that the pilot felt all of the Eva's pain. When Shinji saw what happened to her, the shock apparently caused him to do the same thing in a repeat of his actions against the 14th Angel. Without Dr. Ritsuko, the chances of successfully extracting the pilots are virtually nil, while the chance of destroying their souls in the attempt is greater then 90.

"We don't actually know what happens to a soul in an Eva… But I suspect that if there is no power the soul is trapped in a form of eternal darkness. They…" Fuyutsuki shock his head. "After what they went through, leaving them powerless like that, or in pain from the injuries they sustained seemed almost criminal. They deserve more, but this is all we can give them."

The man standing next to him in a newly pressed U.N. uniform shook his head. "Actually… I was referring to that," he replied, gesturing to the cabling connecting the two Evas. The largest cable was a double headed version of the plug that powered the Evas, and linked the plug socket of Unit 01 to the socket of Unit 02. Other cables stretched between the two biomechanical robots, many of which were wired up to the exposed end of the inserted entry plugs.

"Ah…" Fuyutsuki began. "Well, an Eva is effectively immortal, virtually the perfect time capsule. As one of my students said 'Suppose, five billion years from now. The Earth, the Moon, and even this Sun will be gone. Eva can survive, however. She can survive on the power of a Human Soul. It will be a lonely existence, but humanity will be remembered forever.'

"No stored power supply could last as long as an Eva even in minimal power mode, so Unit 02 would be rendered powerless in less then a decade. Unit 01's S2 organ, on the other hand, provides more then enough power for both Eva's, so we reversed Unit 01's plug socket and connected the two together. It's how we were able to regenerate Unit 02's damage so quickly.

"As for the other cabling… It may allow the two pilots to 'talk' to each other and keep each other company. It was the least we could do."

"Hm…" the U.N. officer mused for a second, before shrugging. "I suppose it makes some kind of sense. Unfortunately, the U.N. council won't be impressed by that. There's been a lot of unrest in some areas, especially after SEELE's control over their more… fanatical tools was removed, and some elements think that we should purge the Eva's of the inserted souls and set them up with other pilots or dummy plugs to provide a useful weapon to quell the various terrorist groups. I'd need to take something more substantial then 'they deserve their rest' back to the U.N."

"You can tell them that it wouldn't work. 'Purging' an Eva would only remove the pilot's soul, and the Eva's would refuse to cooperate with the people who literally removed all trace of their children from the Universe. As for the M.P. Evas, the scans performed by our science team under Ibuki Maya showed that SEELE left several instructions in the Evas that we can't remove, and would cause a lot of trouble if activated. I can have the reports for you in less then an hour if you want."

"That would be useful," the U.N. official began as they turned and began to walk towards the exit. "But even then, several people I could name wouldn't be satisfied until they tried."

"What if you had an alternative? One of the files the MAJI found when we used them to hack SEELE's data banks was a set of designs for a new weapon that they had based on the 'Jet Alone' prototype. It would be much more likely to work and would be cheaper and easier to build then rewriting the Evas. It was called a 'Titan' and…" Fuyutsuki's words were cut off as the doors sealed behind them, leaving the two Evangelions in darkness, lit only by the faint light in their eyes.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Time passed. The Angel Wars and the sacrifices made, even the facts behind the Second and Third Impacts faded into the ash-heap of history. Beneath the industries and cities and pollution growing over the millennia, the seas shrunk and dried up, the forests and ecosystems survived only in vast, carefully maintained zoos and the planet was rendered livable only by the constant action of vast air, food and water processing plants.

18,000 years passed. Random mutation and genetic manipulation lead to the development of the psychic navigator gene and the construction of the first Warp drive allowed the Human race to expand beyond the dead carcass of Earth. A mighty empire formed stretching across the galaxy, leading to the great golden age later to be known as the Dark Age of Technology.

Then massive Warp storms formed, sealing Earth away from the Universe. The empire fell, and a ten thousand year long darkness fell on humanity. Earth fell to techno-barbarianism, the massive country-sized air, food and water processing stations slowly decaying towards a ruin that would doom Earth's inhabitants.

Then the Emperor came.

The greatest Psyker that ever lived, he rapidly reunited the warring tribes together, rediscovering in a decade sciences that had taken years to master. As the Millennia-long warp storms faded, the Tech-priests of Mars joined the Emperor, allowing the creation of the 20 Primarchs, beings genetically made from the Emperor, not quite clones, but closer then sons, and the 20 Space Marine Legions formed in the same way from the Primarchs. With these forces, a Crusade to unite humanity as a mighty Imperium with the newly renamed planet Earth, now Terra, at it's center began.

However, Horus, first and greatest of the Primarchs, Warmaster and second only to the Emperor himself, fell into darkness. His soul was lost to Chaos, and he turned on the Emperor, with fully half of the Imperium declaring for him in a Civil War that would be known as the Horus Heresy, a war stretching even to the hallowed earth of the planet Terra…

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Captain Nash Grosslyn winced as a bang overhead indicated that yet another drop-pod had landed nearby. The hab-blocks of sector C7-983 (a region once known as Tokyo-3 nearly 30,000 years ago) had been severely brutalized. The near constant bombardment had reduced hundreds of buildings to rubble, and the traitor Space Marine Legion of the so-called 'Emperor's Children' had arrived before Grosslyn's Imperial Guard Company. The sector had been home to more then 20 million people before the Hearsay, but the pleasure-seeking Emperor's Children had killed most of them in blood lust and dark sacrificial rituals. One of the last communications from Colonel Brom, before a pair of Space Marines slaughtered the command team and left Grosslyn in charge, was that less then a million civilians had been found.

_Of course_, Grosslyn mused, _that had been hours ago_. Barely 20 men were left in the company, and Grosslyn couldn't imagine how any civilians could have survived the atrocities caused by the Chaos forces in the sector. _We'd be dead too, if that last shell hadn't punched through this armor_. The crater left by the shell had apparently broken into a transport tunnel buried in armor plating that the sector was apparently built on top of. Without any support, Grosslyn had been forced to take his men into the tunnel in the hopes of forming a bottleneck where the size of the opposing force wouldn't be a factor.

Now they pushed on down through the tunnel. Obviously designed to move large loads, it was too big to form an effective kill-zone. If the Arch-enemy was following them, and Grosslyn had every reason to believe they were, then they wouldn't last five minutes in the tunnel. _I just hope there's something better, further do…_ Grosslyn thought, and stopped, as stunned as his men.

The tunnel had come out at the edge of a massive underground hemi-sphere. Three sets of tracks wound their way down to the base, which was buried under a meter of dried dust. In the center, a massive pyramid, battered with several holes in its armor plating, still resisted the ages.

Grosslyn realized that his mouth was hanging open.

"Right, that's our target," he said quickly hiding his surprise. "The entrances to that place can't be too big, we'll hole up in there and wait for support."

"Do you even think there will be support?" Trooper Suzahara, the company's (if it could still be called that) only remaining sniper and the only survivor not holding a Lasgun. "I mean, it's nasty up there. Will they even be able to spare any reinforcements?"

"The Emperor doesn't forget, there will be reinforcements," Grosslyn replied sharply. "In the meantime, let's get down there. Double-time it people!" Followed by the rest of his me, Grosslyn began to run down the track towards the cavern's base.

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Grosslyn looked around the entrance chamber. Rust covered a lot of the walls, battle damage from an ancient battle had punched through walls and the thick entrance door was half off it's hinges. A semi illegible symbol worn almost to the point of invisibility could be seen on one of the walls. It looked like half of a leaf, with some kind of runes written next to it. Shaking his head worriedly, he glanced round at the remains of his men. They'd lost a couple when the Chaos forces had come out of the tunnel while his men were still exposed, a quarter of the way up the path. Luckily, Suzahara's Long-Las had forced them back and given them enough breathing space to make it to the pyramid.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do. You five," Grosslyn began, gesturing to a group of troopers that included Suzahara and com officer Modile, still with his Vox gear on his back, "are to stay here with me. We'll form a fire break at the door there, so this thing," he tapped the half broken door, causing slivers of rust to fall off, "doesn't block our field of fire so much. The rest of you, split into four three-man teams and explore this place, I want to know the layout in case we need to fall back." With a series of acknowledgements, his men went off to do his bidding. Grosslyn glanced back towards the door. _So now we just have to survive the storm… _he mused.

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"Fall back! Fall back!" Grosslyn shouted, blasting his Lasgun blindly down the corridor behind him. The Chaos attack had been much worse then he had anticipated. The enemy had attacked with three full squads of Chaos Space Marines, a force whose full power could only be matched by a company of over 300 Guardsman, and they had one of their foul Sorcerers with them. The Marines had killed four of his men, bolts from their Bolters ripping them apart, but the Sorcerer had cost them another eight, literally immolating them from the inside.

Grosslyn and his six remaining men had been driven far back into the ruins. So far, they had just managed to keep out of any dead ends, but they didn't know the place, so Grosslyn knew they would eventually get trapped.

"Through here Sir!" Modile shouted from the door he had managed to pry open. Grosslyn waited until the others were through, before leaping in himself…

…and found himself face to face with a four-eyed Titan. He almost stumbled back out into the corridor in surprise, but the hail of bolts outside pulled his mind back in gear in time to stop himself. Glancing around, he cursed as he realized that there was no other exit.

"Over there, behind those supports," he said, gesturing to a broken pile of scaffolding lying on the other end of the platform. As they reached the cover of the wreckage, the first Chaos Marine stepped into the room.

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Scynol glanced around the vast space. There were several gantries and locking ports, all decaying into rust, and the remaining Guardsmen were dug in at the far end. Of most interest to the Sorcerer, however, were the two Titans.

_Well_, Scynol mused to himself, _they probably aren't Titans come to think of it_.

An Imperial Titan was a 20-story war machine of near unlimited power. They were massive fortresses with huge in-built weapons. These however, rather then ponderous-looking fortresses, were thin, stream-lined creations. Standing just as tall as a Titan, they seemed more like giant humans rather then walking fortresses. Oddly, they didn't look as damaged and worn as the rest of this place, but instead seemed brand new, without any dust or rust coating them.

_Humph_, Scynol sneered silently. _Whatever they once were, they're just a pair of trash heaps now_. "Just a pair of worthless, dead dolls," he muttered aloud.

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Chaos Sorcerers are among the most powerful human warriors in the galaxy. As well as their Space Marine augmentation, armor and genetic engineering, their immense magical powers have allowed many to single-handedly destroy entire armies, by reducing the battlefield to molten lava, reaching into their opponents minds and pulling out their darkest fears or (in the cases of the most powerful) simply psychically taking over their foes' minds like a puppeteer.

They are also extremely difficult to kill. They have withstood the las shots of entire armies and the barrage of self-propelled guns through the power of their magical warp shields.

But Scynol didn't have the time to set up any such potent defense before Unit 02 punched him so hard it buried it's hand up to the wrist in the wall behind him.

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Grosslyn couldn't stop himself from gapping in astonishment as the firefight lessened. The red four-eyed Titan had suddenly, without any warning, crushed the largest threat in the room. He didn't let his shock slow his reaction as the Traitors stopped firing in surprise.

"Charge! For the Emperor! Kill them all!"

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The Chaos forces had been shocked and demoralized by the death of their master, while the Guard had been amazed by what seemed like a miracle direct from their Emperor. The result was never in doubt.

To be continued…

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Dark Age of Technology; The period of time stretching from 20,000AD (the discovery of faster-then-light travel) to 25,000AD (massive civil war and the start of the Age of Strife). In this period of time humans rapidly expanded a huge area. Humanity advanced in leaps and bounds, supported by technologies like the Standard Template Construct (a super A.I. capable of coming up with almost perfect mechanical designs. All Imperial technology is based on recovered fragments of this). Came to an end for unknown reasons.

Psyker; A person with psychic abilities such as telepathy. Such beings are the only way to communicate interstellar distances.

Primarchs; Genetically created from the DNA of the Emperor, each Primarch personified part of his personality and nature. They lie somewhere between straight clones of the Emperor and his sons. Each Primarch leads one of the Adeptus Astartes Legions

Adeptus; The name for a large, powerful organization.

Adeptus Astartes; Also known as the Space Marines, they are super human warriors of the Imperium. Unlike the Primarchs, Astartes are not genetically engineered from birth, but instead are chosen at the age of ten and have 20 genetically engineered organs implanted which gradually alter the genetic and physical structure of the person. A side effect of the process is permanent sterility. Each of the 20 Legions has a different geneseed (the implants) based on the DNA of one of the Primarchs, and each Marine has a relationship to their Primarch that resembles the relationship between Primarch and Emperor. Nine of the legions and their Primarchs turned traitor during the Hearsay and fought for Chaos.

Imperial Guard; The main fighting force of the Imperium, made up of normal men and powerful tanks. Often described as the 'Hammer of the Emperor.

Hab-block; Basically an apartment building.

Emperor's Children; One of the Astartes Legions. Originally they aimed for excellence in everything they did, but after they turned to Chaos they became pleasure seekers. By the end of the Hearsay, they were so burned out that only the most vibrant pleasures such as the din of battle can give them pleasure.

Chaos; Basically Lovecraft type evil. Chaos daemons are made of pure energy, and hence take impossible shapes of tentacles eyes and teeth. Incredibly powerful, but unstable in the material world. They tend to follow one of four powers; Khorne (blood and war), Slannesh (deprived pleasure), Nurgle (rot and decay) and Tzenech (magic and sourcery).

Lasgun; The standard weapon of the Imperial Guard. Basically a laser. Fairly weak compared to other weapons.

Bolter; The standard weapon of the Astartes. Fires an explosive, rocket propelled, thumb sized Bolt, it contains several aiming systems connecting it to its firer.

Titan; A bipedial war machine. Standing 20 stories tall, it contains four main weapons (both arms and mounted on it's shoulders) and five Void Shield generators. It is controlled by the minds of a human crew bonded directly to the Titan's Machine Spirit. In this story, it is based on the Jet Alone design from Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Tech-priests; The members of the Adaptus Mechanicus. Technology and science in the Imperium is regarded as a religion rather then a science. The Tech-priests worship technology, and consider the fusing of man and machine to be the ultimate in evolution.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

An Armored battalion slowly pushed forward into sector C7-983, the guns mounted on the tanks drifting back and forth across the still burning ruins of the habs. After fighting off the traitors, Grosslyn had sent in a message to high command about the two possibly operating Titans and, even with the Imperial forces heavily under siege the Emperor had ordered the Titans to be retrieved.

The answer had been to send out a sortie of troops supporting a group of tech-priests to reawaken the Titans.

As the battalion drew near to the crater exposing the entrance to the underground complex, a shower of shells and Lascannon shots erupted from nearby ruins. Several Leman Russ tanks exploded, as well as a few Hellhounds and Salamanders. The response was immediate, the troop carrying Chimeras with their valuable cargo leaped ahead while the slower battle tanks turned to face the enemy. Several rounds of ammunition later added a sizable number to the death toll and brought the hab-block crashing down.

As the Chimeras drove into the tunnel and banked downwards, the battle tanks formed up around the crater.

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General Halmead glanced around the massive spherical cave as his Chimera pulled up outside the entrance to the pyramid in the center. The five minute descent had lessened the initial impact of the area, and the destruction of a Chimera, and it's squad, when it slipped from the path, had helped bring him back to reality quickly.

He jumped down from the slowly lowering ramp as a scruffy and battered captain walked out from the structure. Before, Halmead would have had the man pushed back to corporal for that kind of appearance, but in the middle of a war of this magnitude, a neat appearance was the last thing on anybodies mind.

"Captain Nash Grosslyn, Sir!" the captain said, saluting smartly. "I'm glad to see you and, if I may be frank, I never expected to see reinforcements in such strength."

"The Emperor doesn't forget Grosslyn. And the report of the two Titans you found drew a lot of interest from Tactica Command. The Heresy is reaching a critical stage now, and even just one Titan could help tip the balance. If you could…"

TAKE US TO THE TITANS+ a mechanicalised voice stated. Turning, Halmead spotted the heavily altered form of Tech-Magi Dolman floating towards them. There was a gasp as several men stepped back, and Halmead couldn't blame them. Tech-priest regularly went in for massive organ and limb replacement with implants, but Dolman was worse then most. A large grav-plate mounted on caballing in his abdomen replaced his legs, and his arms had been replaced with several mechendrites writhing like snakes from his shoulders while skull-drones floated around him. The face was obscured by lenses, and a Vox-ponder in Dolman's throat spoke for him. Behind him was a retinue of several lower ranking tech-priests and Skitarii bodyguards whirring forward on motorized tracks.

"O-of course my lord," Grosslyn stammered. He turned and lead the group into the structure.

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HMMM…+ Dolman mused to himself as Halmead scowled at his back. After the Magi's insistence on speed, he had stopped and was staring at the barely visible symbol on the wall. +AS I EXPECTED…+

"As you expected?" Halmead asked. Dolman turned his mechanical gaze on him, but Halmead refused to back down. The disregard the Adeptus Mechanicus had for unaugmented people was legendary, _but I'll be damned if I let him push me or my men around,_ Halmead growled mentally.

IT MATCHES DATA I HAVE+ Dolman said reluctantly. +ONE OF OUR OLD INFO FILES SPEAKS OF A TEMPLE-FORTRESS CALLED 'NERV', A MIGHTY BATTALION OF LIGHT IN A WAR LONG SINCE FORGOTTEN. PRE-DARK AGE OF TECHNOLOGY AT LEAST AND PROBABLY PRE-SPACE FLIGHT. THIS SYMBOL APPEARS TO MATCH THE RECORDS. IT IS THE REASON WE ARE HERE.+

"We spent ten minutes here as you stared at a symbol for that?" Halmead exploded. "Our people are dying up there! According to the latest figures every minute over 100 guardsmen and four Space Marines die! We can't afford the time for you contemplate a symbol you figured out several minutes ago!"

THEN PERHAPS YOU SHOULD LEAD US DOWN, RATHER THEN SHOUT AT ME+ the Magi pointed out coldly. Halmead growled for a second as he got a grip on his temper, before turning to Grosslyn.

"Lead on Captain," he growled quietly.

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Halmead watched as Dolman floated through the broken door into the Titan containment area, and blinked as Dolman dropped to the floor and began screeching some kind of machine code.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded. Dolman slowly floated back up to his normal height and turned to face Halmead, the few parts of his face that were still flesh twitching in ecstasy.

IT'S THE EVANGLIONS+ he shouted.

"They're Titans. I know you consider them holy, but they're not that impressive."

THEY AREN'T TITANS, THEY ARE EVAS! THE PREDECESSOR TO THE TITANS! THEY ARE THE PERFECT BLEND OF MACHINE AND MAN, THE GREATEST AND MOST PERFECT REPRESENTATION OF THE OMNISSIAH+ Aside from the reference to the Omnissiah, the Adeptus Mechanicus's Machine God, Halmead didn't really comprehend what Dolman was saying.

"I don't care what they are. Our orders are simple, to reactivate them soonest. Get to it."

YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS? A DISCOVERY OF THIS MAGNITUDE REQUIRES AN ENTIRE TEAM OF MAGI AND HOURS OF PRAYER-EQUATIONS AND EXCAVATION, NOT JUST MYSELF AND A FEW TECH-PRIESTS+

"We don't have the time for your techno-bullsh…" Halmead began, before his comm.-officer ran in and interrupted him.

"Sir, we've got a problem!" he shouted.

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Captain Albionse growled in boredom staring at the dirty world below him, glowing with the occasional flash of war. Apparently a daemon had whispered some kind of warning to Horus, requests had been passed along and orders had been passed down, and now he, Albionse, Captain of the Strike Cruiser _Blood Wrath_, World Eater Marine and favored of Korne the Blood God, had been reduced to impotent rage.

Rather then chasing down the remaining Imperial vessels and spilling their crews into space for the great Gods, he hovered above this 'sector C7-983', he had been ordered to watch for Imperials and, if they managed to reactivate the weapons below the surface before the Chaos warriors could arrive, destroy the area from orbit. According to the Auspexes, the Imperials had surrounded the entrance to the area, and the nearest forces had just entered the zone.

Albionse shook his head. It was time for a little creative work with his orders.

"The cursssed Imperialsss have entered the temple," he hissed whipping his new, snake-like, Chaos-altered tongue around. "Fire the Bombardment Cannon."

"But our orders are only to…" his exec began, before Albionse sliced him in half with his crackling power claw.

"Fire."

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The Magma projectiles fired by an Astartes Strike Cruiser are designed to rip apart entire warships. By the time the unlucky comm-officer had passed on the warning to General Halmead, they had already penetrated the atmosphere. The detonation was visible from orbit and killed 500 Chaos Space Marines, approximately 4 million civilians, nearly 8,000 Guardsmen and every Imperial Guard Tank in the battalion sent to sector C7-983. The blast radius covered an area virtually twice the size of C7-983.

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Halmead did something he had never expected to do again.

He opened his eyes.

Less then a meter in front of him a shimmering orange field extended to either side. He stumbled back several spaces and realized that the field was an octagonal shield over 200 meters in length. Behind the shield, the Evas, their supports, 40 tons of metal and concrete, three squads of Guardsmen, half a dozen Tech-priests, four Skitarii, Captain Grosslyn, General Halmead and Tech-Maji Dolman stood, outside the area protected by the shield…

Halmead felt like collapsing and puking, and from the sound of it several people were doing just that.

Everything had been wiped away, leaving a crater the size of a city. Halmead tried to say something, anything to pull his remaining forces back together, to prepare for a follow-up assault or to retreat to safety, but he couldn't force the words out. Then, something nearby roared…

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Eva Units 01 and 02 stared out over the devastation that covered an area twice as big as Tokyo-3. Their friends, family, everyone they knew were dead. That they had died nearly 30 millennia ago and had not, in fact, died in the explosion did not seem to register. For the first time since the failed 3rd Impact, the Evas moved. Unit 01 grabbed hold of Unit 02's outstretched hand and passed it the Lancea Longinus. Then, with the crack of armor, Unit 01 extended it's energy wings and, still holding Unit 02, flew up towards the murderers of the city.

The Evas quickly rose into space. Pausing for less then a second, Unit 01 carefully ejected the cables linking the two Evas from Unit 02's back, spun around on the spot and flung Unit 02 towards the _Blood Wrath_, before flapping its way around the Strike Cruiser. Unit 02 passed through the _Blood Wrath_'s Void Shields without slowing, and made a perfect landing on its hull, where it promptly set about ripping apart everything it could find.

"Ssshoot the Warp-damned thing!" Albionse screamed, ripping apart a tactical officer who wasn't moving fast enough. Every shot from a close defense turret was either intersected by some kind of orange shield or simple bounced off the thing's armor. It also wasn't having any trouble with being in space. The Strike Cruiser mounted external gravity generators to felicitate repairs or to allow Marines to stand on the hull and repel boarders easily, but now it was allowing the thing to move around unaided. Narrowing his eyes, Albionse realized that the shield only seemed to focus in one direction and the thing was facing away from…

"Quick! Ssshoot all clossse defenssse turrentsss at it'sss front! Then bring the Lance around and hit it in the back!" He watched in glee as the monster concentrated on the turrets shooting it's front, ignoring the ship-killer cannon turning slowly behind it. The Lance began to charge before firing… and the monster did a perfect backward flip over the beam and crushed the turret into the deck.

It then hesitated, before raising the two headed lance it was carrying and throwing it straight down.

The Lancea Longinus was capable of penetrating the ultimate defense, the A.T. field. A mere ten meter thick adamantium hull was nothing to it. It passed through the hull, twenty decks and internal bulkheads and the ship's genarium. As it sliced out of the underside, Unit 01 caught it one handed. As Unit 02 jumped away from the _Blood Wrath_, plumes of white hot plasma erupted from the ruptured genarium. The ship convulsed, and erupted into a massive fireball.

Easily skirting the explosion, Unit 01 caught Unit 02 by the arm and snapped the Plug socket back into it's back. Both Eva's flew away from the devastation behind them and back towards the planet below.

To be continued…

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Tech-Magi; Higher ranking members of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Grav-plate; Anti-gravity generator.

Mechendrites; General purpose manipulators mounted on the end of tentacle-like cabling.

Skull-drones; The skulls of the dead are often refitted with computer components, manipulators and a grav-plate to perform menial tasks in the Imperium.

Vox-ponder; A Vox is a combination of radio and loudspeaker used by the Imperium.

Skitarii; The troops of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Similar to the Imperial Guard, but tend to have a large degree of implants to make them better soldiers (e.g. an inset Auspex or Vox).

Omnissiah; The Adeptus Mechanicus's Machine God, considered the source of all technological knowledge.

Prayer-equations; An example of how religious the Adeptus Mechanicus is, computer programs are considered more like prayers.

World Eater; A traitor Astartes Legion. Khorne worshippers and obsessed with spilling blood in close combat. It is a bonus if it is the enemies' blood.

Auspex; A combination of several types of sensor.

Void Shield; An energy shield.

Warp; The energy Universe were the daemons of Chaos exist. Unlike in our universe, faster then light travel is possible there, so to move between star systems ship must 'ascend' into the other place. Warp travel is highly dangerous, and many ships have been torn apart by daemons when their defensive shields fail.

Lance; A massive laser based weapon for destroying other starships at close range.

Genarium; A plasma reactor that powers the entire starship.


	4. April 1st

"And so, Evangelion 01 entered it's holy berserk mode and consumed the forces of Chaos Marines, while Evangelion 02 tore apart the Fallen Titans of the arch-enemy.

"The evil Horus was defeated, and the Heresy was ended.

"The pilots of the holy machines were elevated to great positions of power by the order of the Emperor, and the Imperium entered a new golden age that has lasted ever since."

-paragraph 17, page 74, _Genesis II_, the Imperial Holy Tome

The End


	5. Author's Note

So that finally ends my story…

April Fools!

_(Dodges large amount of blunt objects)_

Erm… Sorry.

Anyway, This was the first story I ever posted, and I was amazed at the number of reviews I received. I want to thank each and every one of you. Without your support, I probably wouldn't have finished the next chapter until 2007, if ever. As it is, I couldn't bring myself to disappoint you, so here's the next chapter.

But first…

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Justin Blaze; Thanks. It was just one of those odd ideas that came into my head out of nowhere, but I'm glad you like it. I've updated the Summary too; I hope this one's better then the original.

Ahven; Well, I can't speak for everyone, but I agree that WH40k and Evangelion do tend to compliment each other well, especially if their well written.

Macross VF1; Thanks for the complement, and I'll defiantly see this through to the end. I hope the story'll work out, but you can never tell.

Elijah Snow; THANKS! It's great to have your support. Just out of curiosity, what other WH40k-Evangelion stories are there? The only other one I've found is 'And They Shall Know No Fear'.

Marine Brother Shran; Thank you, and I'm not planning on doing a romance, I don't think my skills are good enough to do it properly, and I would hate to spoil the story. Thanks for the offer with the marines, but I'm more worried about the Evangelion side rather then the WH40k side of the story. If I do have a problem, I'll drop you a note.

Reikson; Sorry I didn't update earlier. As for your ideas, I think they're brilliant, but during the Heresy, I don't think the Imperium would have the resources or time to make such things. If I make a sequel, I may use some of those ideas then. For now though, the pilots will just have to make do with make-shifts.

Enedorii; I hope you like this next installment.

Cronomantic; Here's the next update, enjoy!

Liljimmyurine; Yes, I know my spelling and grammar isn't perfect. I pretty much scribbled the story down as I thought of it and posted it almost immediately. However, as soon as the stories done, I'll go back and remove all grammatical and spelling errors. Promise! _(Uncrosses fingers)_

HolyKnight5; Okay, okay I'll update! As for future story… Well, you'll know soon enough.

Ciupacapra; Thanks a lot. And here's the next update. Enjoy!

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Before you continue, chapter three doesn't have much action, so first, here's a sneak preview of a future chapter…

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Princeps Gratone ignored the faint tremors as the legs of his Titan, _Caedes_, smashed through the gap in the walls and into the Imperial gardens. There was a fint pinprick as a shell rebounded from his left leg. Gratone casually brought one of _Caedes_'s Turbolaser batteries to bare on the upstart Leman Russ and vaporized it.

Increasing power to his sensor cones, Gratone happily watched the Chaos forces expanding out of the breach. Then he spotted a… red Titan. It was oddly humanoid, with arms instead of weapons, and the number '02' could be seen on it's carapace. It was casually strafing a army of fellow rebels with a gatteling cannon cradled in it's arms. Gratone murmured a prayer to Khorne as he brought his Titan-scaled Multi-las on his left limb to bare. Unlike many of his cohorts, Gratone believed in the cold-blooded warfare of mass murder facet of Khorne rather then the heat of bloodlust in close combat (mostly due to the fact that most Titans don't have blood).

Even as the first shot blasted out, the red 02 spun unnaturally quickly and, raising a hand, imposed a hexagonal, orange force field between the two war machines. The first shot hit the field harmlessly. The second, third and fourth shots also impacted on the strange shield, each causing the area of impact to fade slightly. The fifth shot blasted a gap in the shield and, having wasted most of it's energy, blew a shallow crater in the 02's armor. The sixth and final shot, unblocked, slammed into and through the armor.

Gratone stared as blood spurted from the wound, and a switch flicked in his head and the heady scent reached _Caedes_'s sensors. He shouted, a battle cry that was echoed by his crew as all logic and reason was washed away in bloodlust and _Caedes_ charged forward, it's chain fist roaring into life.

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"

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Asuka screeched in shock as the blast tore through her, _no_, she desperately thought, _Unit-02's chest_. Looking up, she spotted the enemy Titan, the name _Caedes_ barely visible on it's upper carapace. Desperately, she dropped and reformed her A.T. field.

She was almost too late.

The broken A.T. field, barely a few molecules thick, vanished, and reformed whole again. It reformed at the exact moment that _Caedes_ passed it. The rear half of the massive Titan came to a dead halt, as the A.T. field passed through shields, armor and people… and neatly bisected _Caedes_ down the middle.

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Gratone shrieked in agony as _Caedes_'s momentum crushed it's rear half against the A.T. field and sent it's front half towards the ground. Neither half completed this action, as both halves of the ruined Genarium detonated, flinging the Titan's head towards the ground. As it plummeted, Gratone felt Khorne's wrath descend on him. The last thing he felt, was a massive creature ripping his soul from his body. Then he felt no more.

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I hope you enjoy this chapter. If anybody spots any errors, let me know. Constructive criticism is always welcome and any flames will be used for Land Raider fuel.


	6. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

General Halmead watched in silent awe, listening to the pulsing binary chants of the praying tech-priest in the background as the two Evas landed in front of them. The explosion in space still cast strange shadows over the ground, testifying that these Evas were much, much more powerful then a Titan.

There was a soft noise as the…Halmead could only describe them as 'Energy Wings', folded back into the back of the purple Eva leaving only cracked armor as evidence of their existence. Halmead turned to his still half-traumatized command squad.

"C-com…" Halmead swallowed, before trying to sound more normal. "Comm.-officer Bertrugar, are you picking up any kind of Vox traffic from either of the, ah…'Evas'?" Bertrugar stared at him for several seconds, still in shock, before shaking himself.

"Ah, er, no Sir, nothing yet."

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Within Unit 02's entry plug, the enriched LCL had sat, undisturbed and unaffected by the millennia that had passed. Now, however, it was shifting, coalescing into a solid object. For the first time in countless years, Asuka Langley Sohryu breathed in. It was a shame that that first breath was LCL, but considering the alternative…

Asuka shook her head in mild surprise at how normal she felt. _I had been nearly killed by those… harpy Evas, then I was absorbed into my Eva for Gott only knows how long with only Shinji and our mothers' with me_. Shaking her head, Asuka tapped at the Eva's controls even as she searched back through her memories.

More memories rose and faded. She remembered the scent of blood, and the feeling of something around her throat. She remembered seeing her mother again on the false shore of the L.C.L. sea, and Ikari Yui's explanation that the sight was false, a sight of the world that would have been had they failed. She remembered watching from behind Unit 02's eyes as Fuyutsuki and an U.N. officer discussed her fate. She remembered decade long talks and confessions with her only three companions, and annoyance that the direct soul-to-soul communication prevented her teaching Shinji German (_would have taken up a decade or two_)…

Even as her mind had been wandering, subconscious instincts trained into her by years of EVA pilot training had quickly analyzed her surroundings. The entry plug was dark, but the actively glowing screens indicated that there was power, Asuka simply wasn't synchronized with Unit 02. A quick check of her hair with a hand indicated that the Synch-headsets were missing. A window opened on one of the dark screens. A shirtless, to Asuka's surprise, Shinji looked out of it.

"Asuka! Are you alr…" Shinji suddenly stopped and turned bright red. The screen turned black, with the words 'Audio Only' displayed. Asuka blinked in surprise, and then with a strong sense of foreboding, looked down to discover the main disadvantage of having a body only just recombined from LCL.

"Scheiße! Where's my Plugsuit!"

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"Ah, sir?" Comm.-officer Bertrugar said. General Halmead looked over from his conversation with Tech-Magi Dolman, previous enmity forgotten.

"Yes Comm.-officer?"

"I… found a 2-way communication on one of the older frequencies. For a moment there was some kind of pict. signal as well, but now it's just straight audio. I don't recognize the language though."

"Can you patch in to the signal?"

"I think so, it'll take a few minutes though, it's way outside the normal Guard channels."

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It was surprising that the LCL hadn't turned blue, or at least purple, given how Asuka was cursing as she struggled into the plug suit floating in her entry-plug, several of the stronger phrases causing Shinji to wince. Fortunately, only a few curses had been aimed at him, most seemed to be aimed more at the world in general. Shinji finished buttoning up his shirt, slipped on his Synch-headset and carefully tapped a few controls. The screens flashed and flickered through their normal patterns as the A-10 nerves connected, and Unit 01 came back to life.

Shinji gasped as he gazed out at his surroundings. Unit-01 was standing in the middle of a massive crater edged with buildings. Unit-02 was standing nearby and in front of them was a partly collapsed cross-section of an EVA cage. Next to it, stood several people staring up at the EVAs.

"Mine Gott im Himmal…" Asuka gasped over the radio as Unit 02 activated on minimal power, enough to activate the viewing systems, but not enough to move or drain the backup power supply.

"Was…was this 3rd Impact?" Shinji managed to say, wondering if, despite his mother's reassurances, if they had failed. "Did… did we fail?"

"No Baka," Asuka growled in reply. "Look around, this isn't Tokyo-3. The architecture of those buildings," Unit-02 waved a hand towards the horizon, causing several people on the ground to scatter, "and for that matter those soldiers sure aren't JSSDF."

Shinji felt himself calm down slightly as Asuka's words registered, but only slightly.

"If this isn't Tokyo-3, then where…" he began, before he was interrupted by a new window opened up on the surround screen. It was the black panel of an AUDIO ONLY signal, and it was speaking in a language he had never heard before. It went on for a couple of minutes, before stopping. The tone seemed to indicate that the person speaking was expecting some kind of reply.

"Erm… Asuka, I don't suppose you understood that, did you?" Shinji asked

"I think recognize some Latin in there, but no I don't understand it. Hold on a second." Asuka then began speaking, first in German and then English.

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"What is that?" General Halmead asked glancing at Tech-Magi Dolman, all thoughts of annoyance long gone.

UNKNOWN. ACORDING TO MY ENGRAMS, THE PEOPLE OF THIS FACILITY ONCE SPOKE IN AN LONG FORGOTTEN LANGUAGE CALLED 'JAPANESE'. A TRANSLATION IS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL WE GET SOME TRANSLATOR ALGARITHMS OPERATING+

"Hey, _do you_ understand _what I'm saying?_" the speaker said. General Halmead blinked in surprise.

"I understood some of that," he said in surprise.

INTERESTING. IT APPEARS WE ARE BLESSED BY THE OMNISSIAH. COMMUNICATION IS POSSIBLE. THE PILOT KNOWS SOME PARTS OF LOW GOTHIC+

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It took several hours for the situation to be explained. Fortunately, English and German were two of the main languages that Low Gothic was based on, meaning that Asuka, General Halmead and Tech-Magi Dolman were able to form a pidgin version of the language that both sides could understand.

Then General Halmead and Tech-Magi Dolman were able to explain the present situation, with the appropriate interruptions for Asuka to translate for Shinji, and to deal with a second Chaos attack, this one a company of Word Bearers supported by a pair of Predators and a Land Raider and lead by a Greater Daemon of Khorne (which had looked rather shocked when Unit 01 shrugged it's attack off with an A.T. field and casually stepped on it). It was this last interruption that convinced the two children that the General and Tech-Magi were telling the truth rather then anything else.

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"So," Asuka summarized, trying to suppress her nausea, "we've somehow traveled into the distant future, we're stuck in the middle of a galaxy-spanning civil war, and it's quite literally 'Hell on Earth' at the moment. And your Emperor just expects us to blindly trust and fight for him after all we've been through?"

There was a long pause, while Asuka glared at the Audio Only screen. "The Emperor rules humanity," General Halmead finally replied angrily. "If you don't fight for him, you're his enemy." Asuka blinked in surprise at his attitude as he hesitated, audibly calming down. "Besides, the whole planet's at war. If you don't fight…" the tiny figure of Halmead on the screen waved an arm at the massive crater and the ruined buildings surrounding it. "…where are you going to go?"

"Even if we did agree…" Asuka replied doubtfully, with the standard pause to translate to Japanese, "how will we get there if this 'palace' is at the North Pole? It'd take days to get there under normal conditions, and through a planet-wide war zone…"

"You're more important then you realize," Halmead replied, "The Emperor ordered the Imperial Fist's Sky Fortress to come pick us up along with the Imperial Fist Marines! In fact, I think that's it there." He pointed out towards the northern edge of the crater. As Asuka and Shinji looked up they both spotted a small dot on the horizon. S/he activated the Eva's filters, magnifying the spot. It grew into… neither of them could properly describe it. It resembled a pair of massive cathedrals that had been stuck together, base to base. About as many towers dropped down from the bottom as raised up from the top. Massive, gargoyle edged engines were mounted along the edges propelling it towards them, while weapon batteries continually bombarded the ground underneath it, apparently indiscriminately. Occasional flashes on the ground indicated some weapon crew foolish enough to try and shot it, and were promptly flattened by the fortresses weapons, while the projectiles in question vaporized uselessly against some kind of energy field.

It appeared deceptively slow, but it soon became apparent that it was moving incredibly fast. In merely twenty minutes, it had changed from a tiny dot on the horizon, to a massive mountain-construct floating over-head. As it slowed to a stop, barely 100 meters above them, two massive, yet tiny compared to the entire structure, platforms lowered from the lowest stalactite-tower.

"Well," Asuka said in Japanese, sounding slightly stunned, "I…guess this is our ride."

Shinji found himself chuckling slightly despite himself.

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Actually climbing onto the platforms proved slightly tricky. The were linked by massive servo-mechanisms to the Sky Fortress above, and several complicated structures, apparently intended to support an EVA sized machine of some sort. Actually fitting an EVA onto the platform without damaging anything was as difficult as climbing into an EVA cage unassisted, but Shinji and Asuka managed it with only slightly scratched paint.

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Shinji thought he had been prepared somewhat for a 'futuristic' transport. He had been expecting some kind of advanced machine with the same 'sterile machine' feel of the inside of NERV. The reality was somewhat different.

The hallways were either dark and claustrophobia inducing, lit only by a few candles, or massive and awe-inspiring, decked with gargoyles and gothic architecture. The interior of the ship appeared to be made out of, of all things, stone bricks, and strange figures like the creature that had introduced itself as '+TECH-PRIEST DOLMAN, WORTHY OF THE OMNISSIAH+' were moving purposefully around.

Yet mixed in, and almost hidden by, the gothic environment were machines which made the Magi super-computers look old-fashioned. _No doubt_, Shinji thought as they finally arrived at the bridge, _Doctor Ritsuko would give…would have given her eye-teeth to see this…_

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Brother-Captain Angrimond glanced up as he heard the bridge's main door groan open over the combat chatter. Some of the figures he recognized as the Imperial Guard and Tech-priests the report had mentioned. The two people with them…

"_Enemy Ordinance inbound from grid reference 03945-a."_

Angrimond cursed silently. _They are just children! They have to be at least twenty or thirty years from their fist re-juv treatment! Is this what that bastard Horus has driven us to? Fighting our wars with Children?_ Shaking his head, Angrimond turned back to the holo-table. "Helm, full ahead on heading 37-true. Weapon officer, maintain over-watch firing patterns. Ave Imperator."

_"Minor damage and casualties at weapon port 498-starboard, repair work-gangs on route."_

Angrimond waited for the acknowledgements from the Ratings and Servitors, before turning to his visitors.

"Greetings General. I'm sorry for your losses." As Halmead nodded his thanks, Angrimond turned his attention to the two 'Evangelion' pilots, and blinked in surprise as they met his gaze steadily. He had been expecting them to be cowed at his superhuman size and appearance, even those who commonly saw them were nervous at the sight of a power-armored marine. Yet these two were surprisingly calm.

Angrimond studied the two with both a mind that had seen two centuries of warfare and his rudimentary Psyker empathy, and was impressed. Although well hidden by masks, they both had an inner core of strength that they seemed almost unaware of. Despite the pain they had suffered, they were sound enough to fight.

_It seems_, Angrimond thought, _that my appraisal as 'children' was premature. These two have had to grow up much too quickly. It's likely that neither of them really knows that they're hiding their true natures… Still, I can see why the Emperor wants them safely away from the Chaos forces…_

_"Targets at grid reference 05783-c eliminated. Searching for fresh targets."_

"Welcome to the Sky Fortress, both of you," he said. "I am Brother-Captain Angrimond. We'll be arriving at the Imperial Fists' location in a few hours, before heading on to the Palace. "If you wish to observe our flight from here, you may. But don't disturb me or my men.

_"Multiple targets spotted heading North along Route 427. Alerting ground forces."_

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Shinji blinked as the yellow armored figure walked away after giving it's curt form of welcome. The person's evaluating stare had made him slightly nervous, only amplified by the slight scratching headache he had developed for a few seconds. Still, he could still remember facing down his father's stare when Shinji had quit after Touji's Eva had been possessed. Compared to that, the 'space marine's' stare had felt like a friendly welcome. Shinji leaned towards Asuka slightly.

_"Inbound heavy ordinance. Void shields holding steady."_

"Erm…what did he say?"

_"Plasma Genarium 24 showing overheat. Shutting down and boosting Plasma Genarium 27 to compensate."_

"He greeted us of course Baka," Asuka replied, rolling her eyes. "He said he was called Angrimond. And he warned us not to touch anything."

_"Heavy ordinance backtracked to grid reference 05946-b. Targets Identified._

"Oh…" Shinji glanced around the bridge, populated by half machine cyborgs, flying skulls and busy ratings. Over in the corner, he could see Angrimond talking into some kind of speaker. "Somehow, I never really thought of touching anything…"

"_Targets at grid reference 05946-b eliminated. Searching for fresh targets."_

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Tightbeam (single-direction) commstream generation (4/485.h).

Carrier-code Oscillate:63.5 138.67. Priority-1. (1/272.p) Datastream transmission only

Logging receipt…

Target receiving. (1/251.d).

HAIL. Suspend comms-traffic for duration.

Channel sustained.

_Comm-officer Fornacht, Imperial Palace, to Sky Fortress. Report status._

**Servitor12-x12 'Micky' responding. State secure ID code and your business.**

_2834-c34F. I need to speak with Captain Angrimond._

**Please hold.**

**…**

**…**

**Brother-Captain Angrimond, _Sky Fortress_. Who is this?**

_I'm Comm-officer Fornacht, Imperial Palace. Could you report your status, my Lord_

**Status secure. Minor damage to some systems, but otherwise nominal. No major physical damage. We'll need some re-loads on arrival though.**

_Understood. I'll feed that info to the Administratum. What's the status of your…passengers_

**We've retrieved them, and their machines. We're heading for the Imperial Fists Legion now. Estimate two hours before arrival at their location.**

_Understood. Make haste, we need you and those reinforcements. It's nasty here…_

**We're under way.**

To be continued…

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Pict. signal; An visual image sent along with Vox signals.

Gothic; The two official languages of the Imperium. 'High' Gothic appears to be a mixture of Latin, Greek and other older languages and is used mostly for ceremonial purposes. 'Low' Gothic is the more common tongue, and is a mixture of present day languages. For convenience, I assumed that English and German were the main two used, to allow Asuka to understand it.

Thousand Sons; Another of the Space Marine Legions fallen to the powers of Chaos. One of the smaller Legions, the Thousand Sons are made up mostly of Psykers, and hence has the most Sorcerers amongst it's ranks. This, rather then tactics of weapons, tends to be their main ability. They are always accompanied by Daemons.

Predator; The second strongest tank used by the Space Marines, it combines strong armor and weapons with a Rhino chassis, though at the expense of passenger capacity. At the time of the Heresy, the Destructor variant with it's Auto-cannon and Heavy Bolters was used exclusively.

Land Raider; **THE** ultimate tank used by the Imperium. Virtually impregnable, self-aware, capable of carrying an entire ten-man squad and mounting weapons powerful enough to take down a Titan, it is used solely by the Astartes. Although other tanks have been built that are more powerful, (e.g. Baneblade) it is always at the expense of much greater mass, volume and energy costs, less advanced technology and much higher maintenance needs. The Land Raider is a much more perfect balance between each aspect of a tank. Discovered from STC data from the Dark Age of Technology, it can take decades to produce a single Land Raider.

Sky Fortress; A powerful, air-borne fortress. During my first reading of the Horus Heresy articles in the magazine White Dwarf, I was given the impression that the Sky Fortress was owned and run by the Imperial Fists. Although later checks showed that the article didn't say that, I decided to use it anyway as it fits in with the Imperial Fist's image as artificers capable of building and destroying massive fortresses. As there is no real description of it's shape, I was forced to make my own.

Holo-table; Self explanatory. A table that projects a holographic image above itself.

Power armor; Unlike normal armor, Power armor uses a number of servos to increase the strength of the wearer, allowing the armor to be thick and allowing the user to weald heavy weapons with ease. The main disadvantage is that it can only be used to full effect by people with the right cybernetic connections (i.e. Space Marines) so it can work as a 'second skin' using it instead of in response to the user's actions (causing a noticeable time dely).

Imperial Fists; An Space Marine Legion known for it's ability with siege warfare, both aggressively and defensively. It has the honor of being the first completed Legion, and of holding the only Fortress-Monastery on Terra. The Legion has remained loyal to the Emperor, and is nearly unique in that it does not maintain a home-world but takes recruits from the planets the Legion visits. Even prior to the Heresy, the Legion maintained a long-standing rivalry with the Iron Warriors Legion.

Servitor; Often used for labor of repetitive tasks, a Servitor is a cyborg, made either from a vat-grown clone which has been chemically denied a personality or a mind-scrubbed and lobotomized criminal. They are often heavily altered for their task, and many are permanently wired directly into the machines they run.

Administratum; The Imperium's clerks. They are responsible for taking taxes, sending shipments to the correct places, etc. Basically they deal with most of the Imperium's paperwork. Fanatical record keepers.


	7. Chapter 4

Author's Note

I wasn't quite expecting to get this chapter out so fast, especially when my computer went down. I hope you enjoy it.

diabloelmo; Thanks for the complement. I think your story is doing very well (I can defiantly imagine Asuka getting Aida into trouble like that). I was intending to email you about discussing possible concepts for our stories, but my old P.C. has gone dead, and I'm still getting used to this new Mac. If you're interested, I could always use a Beta reader for my future chapters. Drop me a line sometime.

Elijah Snow; Thanks for the complement. As for Shinji and Asuka, I suspect it will be quite a while before they can really get to terms with their displacement. The Horus Hearsay wasn't really full of large pauses where people could properly think about such large concepts.

Enedorii; Well, I'll try not to abandon this story (especially if it seems to be going well). I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Yoshomo; Thank you, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

liljimmyurine; I wasn't completely sure of this fact, but from what I understand, the Emperor ordered the Space Wolves to attack the Thousand Sons before he learned of Horus' betrayal. This suggests that this fight finished before the attack on Terra. My primary source material 'Assault on Holy Terra' page 34 of White Dwarf 268, says that the Thousand Sons arrive with the other legions. Magnus' powerful sorcery presumably was fast enough to bring his legion to Horus' side before the attack on Terra. I could, however, be wrong. If you have a source which states that the /thousand Sons could not have reached Terra, I'll re-write the earlier story to take that into account.

**Chapter Four**

Shells continued to pound away at the ruined shell of the Imperial Basilica, but the long forgotten architects of that mighty structure had done their job well. Even reduced to a half ruin, the remaining gargoyle encrusted stone walls, supported by struts of solid adamantum, still held up against the blasts, with only shallow craters being blown in their architecture. Not even the few citizens who had made it to the Basilica and relative safety in the ruins behind the Imperial Fists screamed; they'd long since worn their voices out.

Rogal Dorn offered up fervent thanks to those architects even as he fired another stream of Bolts into the mutants massing in the square before him. So far, the Imperial Fists had held off a large force of Iron Warriors and their mutant slaves ever since the first Drop Pods fell at the start of the War. By now, both sides had settled into the siege mentality that the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors were both well known for.

"Brother-Primarch," crackled a voice from Dorn's Vox-bead. "Your hunch was indeed correct. The Iron Warriors were attempting to tunnel under the walls and bring them down."

"I thought so," Dorn replied. He had sent the 23rd Company under Brother-Captain Loroman down into the catacombs after spotting tell-tail clouds of brick dust from behind the Iron Warriors' lines. "What's your status Brother-Captain Loroman?"

Loroman glanced over at the yellow-clad lines of his brethren. Past them, hundreds of mutants poured from gaping holes in the walls of the tombs…and were easily cut down by the disciplined fire-power of the hundred Space Marines waiting for them.

"No sign of the Iron Warriors, Lord," he replied, "only their mutant slave-scum. We can hold them off more or less indefinitely while the ammo holds out." He raised his pistol and sent a translucent ball of plasma into a shambling creature that was dragging itself forward with it's one arm.

"Understood," Dorn replied. He glanced at the horizon, where a faint speck could be seen floating in the distance, and changed Vox channels. "_Sky Fortress_, what's your E.T.A?"

"We should be on station in about 37 min…" Angrimond began, before hesitating, "hold on a second my Lord…"

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"Frag it!" Angrimond cursed as he stared at the tactical readout over the holo-table.

"What's the problem?" Halmead asked, adding a quick, "Sir," as Angrimond turned his angry gaze to him.

_"Sensorium scans indicate heavy enemy presence at head on bearing."_

"The Iron Warrior bastards have a Titan, and several heavy missile batteries. We used up the last of our long range weapons heading to pick you up, we don't have anything left to hit them from beyond their own range, and with our present firepower, they'd rip us apart before we got close enough to effectively reply."

"What are you planning to do?"

_"Heavy missile battery 4-port reports out of ammunition, requesting re-loads."_

"I guess we'll have to ask Lord Dorn if he can send out a large enough force to take out those weapons. It'd take a lot though, the machines in question are at the back of the Chaos scum, and they'd have to cut through the entire Iron Warriors force to reach them. I'd prefer to send in a force from here, but we've only got a single Battle-Company and your few remaining men on board."

"_Enemy aircraft at bearing 175 degrees. Anti-aircraft cannons 12 and 14 opening fire."_

"Isn't Titan depot 12 still holding out. Perhaps they could spare a few Warhounds or a Warlord to assist."

"No… They're over an hour away. I'm not sure we could wait that long." Halmead scowled and glared at the holo-table. Then a short Japanese sentence made him look up.

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"I'll go," Shinji said, his mind struggling between an odd sense of courage and fear as he stepped forward.

"Dummköpf! Asuka shouted, spinning him around. "What are you talking about? We haven't even decided if we're going to fight! And even after 28,000 years, I'm sure you remember what the JSSDF did."

"Yes, I remember that they killed everyone in NERV and who remained in Tokyo-3, for no good reason. There are people back there who need to be rescued from the same situation and… I… I can't just do nothing!" Asuka groaned, nearly face-palming.

"Fine…we'll just have to…"

"Erm…" Shinji winced as he interrupted her, and a vein began to pulse on her forehead, "I, um, kinda think you should stay here…"

"If you're thinking for just one second that I can't fight with you…" Asuka tailed of menacingly. Shinji gulped. During the time they were both part of the Evas, they had more or less stuck up a firm friendship, but Shinji knew better then anyone that friendship was no protection against an angry 'Red Demon'.

"No, no, it's not that. It's just, Unit 02 only has about five minutes of power, and you're the only one who can speak both Japanese and Gothic. You'll need to stay here to translate for me." To Shinji's relief, Asuka visibly brought her temper under control long enough to consider his points reasonably calmly.

"Scheiße," Asuka growled, "fine. I guess that makes sense. She turned, and said something to the Space Marine Captain. They talked for a few seconds, before the Captain nodded, and turned and gave several orders to his crew. "He says 'okay'," Asuka said, switching back to Japanese. "This ensign," she gestured to a man who had stepped forward, "will take you back to Unit 01."

"Thanks," Shinji said, turning towards the exit.

"Hey Shinji, be careful alright," Asuka said as he left.

"I will."

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Shinji brought Unit 01's head round to carefully peek around the edge of the building with an odd sense of deja-vu. Despite the imposing architecture of the immense buildings he was hiding behind, and despite the fact he was clutching the Lancea Longinus instead of a car-sized hand gun it felt just like when he was sneaking up on the black and white 12th Angel. Shinji, shock his head to dispel those thoughts, fervently hoping that the events of that day wouldn't repeat themselves; he'd scraped by death too many times.

"Shinji," Asuka said over the radio, "Angrimond says that the heavy stuff's just a couple of blocks away. There were only a couple of cannons big enough to take this fortress down, but there's also a machine he calls a 'Titan' which he describes as being fairly similar to an Eva. Watch yourself."

Unit-01 carefully picked up the massive weapon by the barrel, tilting it and shaking the armored figures off onto the ground below. Giving it a cursory glance, Shinji noted that it was about the length of Unit 01's forearm, and would make a reasonable club. Shrugging, Shinji turned Unit 01 around…and came face to face with…something. He only got an impression of blocky armor, gargoyle encrusted weapons and a daemonic metal face, before the gatling cannon on it's right arm opened up, spewing a stream of hyper-velocity 15mm bullets straight at Unit 01's head.

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Grogrance, Iron Warrier and ex-munitions officer of the Basilisk cannon which the purple monstrosity had just picked up, nodded in pleasure as _Mortis Dominus_ blasted it in the head with it's gatling cannon, forcing the machine to stumble backwards and fall over, dropping the strange lance in it's hand.

He only had a second to realize that, less then 30 meters from it's foot, he was right underneath it. By then, it was too late, as Unit 01's back hit the ground with a crunch.

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Shinji pulled Unit 01 up, shaking both his own and the Eva's head, before throwing himself to the side. A blast of energy carved a hole in the street where he just was.

"Shinji!" Asuka shouted over the comm. "Angrimond says that's a Titan. It's got some kind of energy shielding you'll have to break through."

"Right," Shinji muttered, more to himself then Asuka. As the Titan, the name _Mortis Dominus_ proudly displayed on its skin, turned slowly, it brought its massive weapons round to bear again. Shinji quickly swung with the cannon still clutched in his right hand. The cannon barrel crumpled into the force-field over the Titan's gargoyle head. Then the explosive shell still loaded into the broken weapon detonated, blasting a hole in the shield.

Shinji watched the hole slowly close up, and quickly shoved Unit 01's hand through the hole, grabbed at the first thing he touched and pulled, hard. With a tearing of metal, and sparking of wires, _Mortis Dominus_'s head tore loose. The Titan went dead, shields collapsing and power stores venting through armor plating and unlucky crew-slaves.

Shinji breathed a sigh of relief, and casually dropped the half-crushed head on the street below.

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Some rubble shifted, and Grogrance slowly and painfully pulled himself upright out of a Terminator-shaped hole in the street. His daemonically blessed Terminator armor had just managed to hold up under the weight of the purple machine, but Grogrance was badly injured, with only one arm and at least one ruptured lung.

"When I find the pilot of that…" Grogrance growled, before some form of prescience made him look up. The head of _Mortis Dominus_ was being held right over him by a purple hand.

"Oh… Warp damn-" Grogrance began. There was a crunch.

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It turned out that _Mortis Dominus_ was the only Titan supporting the Iron Warriers against the Imperial Fists, the others were all heading from the spaceports towards the Palace. It had been relatively easy for Shinji to overturn the various weapon platforms, they hadn't been able to traverse fast enough to hit the Eva even assuming the shots wouldn't be stopped by Unit 01's AT field.

The _Sky Fortress_ slowly floated over the now safe streets, delivering the coup-de-grace to _Mortis Dominus_'s body before descending to the ground next to the Imperial Basilica.

Rogal Dorn watched over his warriors and the citizens they were escorting, as they boarded the Sky Fortress. They were weary, and the yellow armor of every one of them was battered and scratched. Yet they were alive, and Dorn was thankful for that.

He turned and watched as the purple and green behemoth awkwardly tried to wedge itself into a Titan pen deployed from the Sky Fortress. For the first time in days, Dorn felt something other then impeccable hatred of his traitorous brothers or thread-bare faith in an Imperial victory.

He felt hope.

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Brother-Sergeant Haugt of the Blood Angels Legion sighed with relief and slumped against the fractured five story parapet. With the arrival of the _Sky Fortress_, the traitors had pulled back, leaving the wearied defenders valuable breathing space. Already Haugt could hear the crack of grenades blasting apart the piles of bodies lying against the walls, both loyalist and traitor, to clear firing lanes and remove the routes the previous attack had used to reach the top of the walls.

Haugt was exhausted. Space Marines had been designed with constant war in mind, but the Heresy had been continuing for over a month, with two weeks of fighting on the soil of Terra itself. Two weeks of fighting Space Marines, mutants and traitors, two weeks of dodging artillery fire and surviving massed Bolter fire, two weeks of desperately holding out against overwhelming odds with no hope of support. Two weeks of breathing hot air, greasy with the tang of burning human flesh and seemingly cursed by the very daemons they fought.

Haugt wasn't surprised that he felt weary, the scientists of the Luna labs had never imagined conditions like these when they worked up the Astartes geneseed. Haugt looked around at his fellow defenders, marine and human alike, and felt something like awe. If he, a super-human warrior, felt like this, then what of the normal humans? How could they possibly stand?

Yet not one of the remaining loyalists had faltered or stepped back. Haugt felt a surge of pride and faith blow away his exhaustion. While warriors like them stood, the palace would not fall.

A shadow fell over him as the _Sky Fortress_ floated by overhead and drifted over the ruined Imperial Gardens. Haugt turned back to the wall, shouting words of encouragement and orders to the other defenders on his wall section. As soon as the _Sky Fortress_ faded from sight, he knew the Traitors would attack again.

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The _Sky Fortress_ slowly drifted down onto the landing pad below. Specially designed supports reached up from the ground and meshed with matching points of the fortress's outer hull.

Gantries deployed, allowing the massed forces with their pallets of ammo to board, and allowing the milling groups of Tech-priests to begin unloading the two immense Evangelions.

And a small group of people, including two teenagers, one male and the other female, were ushered over to the single, 30-story entrance to the Inner Palace.

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As Shinji timidly walked into the throne room of the man who was apparently the Emperor of the galaxy, one figure immediately caught his eye. He was standing in the middle of the room, apparently listening to the various discussions, tactical chatter and arguments. He was wearing armor that was an ornate masterpiece, decorated with Imperial eagles, gems and other precious metals, while at the same time having the look of something the could survive being stepped on by an EVA. His hair was jet black rather then the white that he remembered, and partly covered by a helmet with wires trailing off into machinery on the ceiling above, but the red eyes quietly watching everything around him were the same as Shinji remembered.

"Kaworu?" Shinji asked quietly, ignoring Asuka's confused, sideways glance. Kaworu… the man who looked like Kaworu, glanced up and gestured for them to walk forward, before turning back to the others in the room.

_"…understand your reluctance, my Lord Militant, but the facts are simple," _he continued in Low Gothic. _"There are too few RH1N0s left. For them to be used effectively, they all have to be reassigned to the Adaptus Astartes and Arbites until I counteract that order."_

The man he was talking to, covered in jewel-encrusted, and very battered, armor sighed and nodded before walking away. The red-eyed man turned back to Shinji and Asuka and, to Shinji's surprise, started to speak in Japanese. "So, Ikari Shinji, Asuka Sohryu, 'we meet at last', to repeat yet another old, tired cliché."

"You… you're not Kaworu are you?" Shinji asked disappointedly. The stranger looked surprised for a second, before chuckling.

"Ah, no I'm afraid not. And I must say, it's the first time in a long while that someone's spoken so… candidly with me." He waved a hand dismissively as Shinji blushed. "Oh, don't worry, it's refreshing after years of careful respect. And you could say that I'm Kaworu's older brother.

"Okay…" Asuka began, "who's Kaworu, and how can you be related to him if it's been millennia since he died?"

"Kaworu was my friend," Shinji replied sadly, "and also the last Angel. I killed him with my bare hands." The Emperor laid a comforting, if metal clad, hand on Shinji's shoulder. There were a few faint gasps from the crowd around them.

"He choose to die so that you could live. You shouldn't feel bad about that. As for your second question Miss Sohryu…this is only the second time I've explained my origins to someone else and it's a long story, so please try to be patient. I suppose, Shinji Ikari, you remember Doctor Akagi describing SEELE's project to artificially create a human/Angel hybrid."

"Yes," Shinji replied sadly, "just like Rei."

"What?" Asuka exclaimed in surprise. "Rei's… was an Angel?"

"Well, half Angel really," the Emperor replied. "She had half of Yui Ikari's DNA, and half from the second angel, Lilith. As for Kaworu… one of the things I didn't find out was the name of his, and my, human donor, but the angel half of his DNA came from the first angel Adam. Before they made Kaworu, however, they made me. Originally I did have a gene structure that was a hybrid of human and Angel DNA like my 'younger brother'. Then they 'hot-housed' my gene structure… sorry, modern term. I mean they artificially accelerated my physical growth and development in order to have a viable subject in less then a year. Only my human side responded to the treatments, leaving the Angel DNA present only in a small number of cells, which my body eventually rejected as foreign tissue. The Angel DNA, however, did leave me with some lasting effects from my infantile period. Although I'm human, I'm also effectively immortal, so here I stand 28 thousand years later.

"By SEELE's standards, of course, I was a failure since my Angel genes were expelled during my infancy. The second subject SEELE created was Tabris, the being you know as Kaworu." The Emperor shrugged, which looked rather odd when amplified by his armor. "I had also developed psychic abilities, so I easily realized that Keel intended to dispose of me, which I learned from the thoughts of the technicians around me. I escaped, while using my abilities to fool them into believing that I was dead.

"I spent the next several years hiding and learning. My body continued to grow at an accelerated rate, I was physically mature a year before you arrived in Tokyo-3. For years afterward, I hid from humanity, willing to let it find it's own path. On reflection, that may have been a mistake."

"Why?" Asuka asked, "What happened?"

"Well…"

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"…and then it dropped the T-titan's head on me." Grogrance gasped out. He was on his knees in the main observatory of Horus' Battle-barge. Around him, the walls themselves twisted with power, faces and objects forming in the metal and fading away soundlessly. The figure in front of him, a hulking shape in Terminator armor, was staring away from him, through the porthole at the planet below. "I w-was found by o-other freed marines a-and was brought here."

"Were there any markings on this…machine?" The figure growled out, the power fist on his right arm flexing.

"S-some kind of runes, b-but I couldn't unders-understand t-them." Grogrance started to drag a blood-soaked finger across the floor. "T-they look-looked like this…"

The figure turned to face him, features hidden in shadow. "I see." He studied Grogrance's scrawlings for a moment, before turning to the bodyguards in the room. "Kill him."

Horus turned back to his contemplation of the war-torn planet below, ignoring the scream and the meaty thump behind him. _EVA01TEST. EVA 1. What are you planning, you fool?_ Horus wondered as he stared down at the planet below.

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"…And that's how it ended," the Emperor concluded. "With the Warp Storms gone, I was able to expand my control to the rest of the system, before beginning the expansion into the galaxy. With the Space Marine Legions behind me, I soon found my missing sons. I followed a simple policy-whenever I found one of the Primarchs, I would give him command of the world he was found on and control of the Legion based on his genetic structure.

"Horus… was the best of them all, my trusted second in command, a great ally…and a trustworthy friend. But now…" the Emperor broke off and shook his head sadly. "He's been turned. Turned to Chaos. He, and fully half of the Imperium has fallen into darkness, and if they win… We face extinction. I should have listened to…" The Emperor paused, closing his eyes, pain and anger raging behind them.

"I know what you've been through. Nobody here, not even myself has the right to order you to fight. Both of you have earned the right to control your future. But… Without you, there may be no future. I ask you to help us." The Emperor opened his eyes, looking at the two children, who right now looked as tired as if they had lived the last 38,000 years, instead of spending it in a form of semi-suspended animation.

He watched as Shinji and Asuka shared a glance, before Asuka sighed.

"I don't suppose we've got much choice," she said "Sure, we'll do what we can."

To be continued…

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Imperial Basilica; The central church of the Imperium on Terra. The faith involved is unknown, but presumably didn't involve worshiping the Emperor. The Imperial Cult was formed after the Heresy.

Mutants; During the Age of Strife, the human Gene pool was destabilized, and an ever-growing percentage pf people with massive mutations were born. They are often exterminated or enslaved, and hence often strike at those in authority.

Drop Pods; Orbit-to-ground-insertion pods. Basically a vehicle that is fired directly into a planet's atmosphere like a missile, bringing an entire Space Marine squad directly to combat in the shortest possible time. The g-forces involved can kill anything less durable then a Space Marine. The plasma contrails as they enter an atmosphere strikes fear into the hearts of the Imperium's enemies. Have no brakes. Nick-named 'Death from above'.

23rd Company; Before and during the Heresy, Space Marines were organized into Legions of thousands of marines, so it wasn't unusual for there to be a large number of companies.

Iron Warriors; In many ways, the Iron Warriors are similar to the Imperial Fists. They are siege specialists, and they tend to go for heavy cybernetic enhancement of their bodies. Before the Heresy, their Primarch Perturabo dispersed his warriors at the Emperor's orders, which lead to a lot of discontent. Horus played on this anger to convert them to Chaos. They follow no Chaos God, but instead follow Chaos in it's entirety. They take great pleasure in turning their skills on the fortifications they once guarded.

Basilisk; Self propelled Cannon of the Imperial Guard with immense range and fire-power. Never be on the wrong side of one.

Terminator armor; Even stronger then Power armor, Terminator was originally designed to allow Tech-priest to make repairs to the inside of a plasma reactor, while it was operating. Although they are slow to move, Terminators can wield heavy weapons as easily as pistols. They are easily capable of surviving being stepped on by a Titan, although not without injury. There is no better natural armor in the galaxy, only the supernatural defenses of daemons are better.

Blood Angels; A legion of Space Marines identified by their blood-red armor. Enlisted from the radiation swept world of Baal, each Blood Angel is considered a supreme being by the radiation scarred and twisted population. Sanguinius, their Primarch, is unique in that he has a pair of white wings growing from his back. The legion as a whole is aimed at close combat for preference.

Luna labs; The near mythical laboratories on Terra's moon, they were responsible for developing the Primarchs and the Space Marine Organs. Presumably the best Labs outside the workshops on Mars.

RH1N0; One of the basic tanks used by the Imperium, the RH1NO, or Rhino, is a well designed tank created from scraps of STC data from eons past. Robust, survivable and capable of using virtually any kind of fuel, the Rhino became the basis for virtually every type of tank developed for the Space Marines for the next 10,000 years.

Horus; If you don't have an idea of who this is, you haven't been paying attention. When the infant Primarchs were scattered to the stars, Horus ended up in the system closest to Terra, and was the first found by the Emperor. His second in command throughout the Great Crusade, Horus was summoned back to Terra to be declared 'Warmaster' of the Imperial forces. Horus fell ill just after to this request, while trying to bring the planet Davin into the Imperium (given his immune system, very suspicious). Despite his illness, he went down to the planet. When he returned, he had been possessed by Daemons and fallen to Chaos. He corrupted a full half of the Imperium and began the Heresy.


	8. Chapter 5

Author's Note

And I thought my previous chapter was out quickly!

Unfortunately, my end-of-semester exams are coming up within a few weeks. After that, the 'Fall of Medusa V' campaign will likely be distracting me from writing much for a while. I promise to get back to finishing this story as soon as possible.

liljimmyurine; Thanks for pointing out my error. I've made a couple of changes and when I upload the final version of the story the Word Bearers will get stomped by Shinji rather then the Thousand Sons. Oh, and thanks for the compliment.

Reikson; I'll do my best both with the time to write the chapters and their length, but as I explained above, events are not proving helpful to me. On the other hand, I intend to have some rather pivotal events coming up, and I want to make sure I do them proper justice, so a little extra time might prove useful.

Tatsu-ZZmage; I could think of no other phrase which would get Asuka to react so quickly. And I'm glad you like the story.

Yoshomo; Thanks, I'm glad you like the story and my portrayal of the Emperor.

zero0x3000; Thanks a lot! And I haven't read The Forgotten Primarch of Chaos, but I'll make sure to look it up soon.

**Chapter Five**

Shinji fought the urge to glance over his shoulder as he and Asuka followed a Tech-priest through the busy halls of the palace. Floating just behind him was a human skull, floating on thin air and humming slightly. A second one followed Asuka quietly. These 'Skull Drones' were the most disturbing example of 'futuristic' technology he had seen, but it was proving useful. It had been programmed as a translator, translating Gothic into a Japanese pidgin. During the time in their Eva's, Asuka had tried to teach Shinji how to speak German. Unfortunatly, anything Asuka said arrived in Shinji's head as Japanese. According to Yui, it was because their souls were communicating directly, in a way, 'bypassing' language. Since Shinji had never been able to learn German, or English, he had no chance of understanding Low Gothic, making the Servo Skull a god-send.

Even so…it was still a human skull…

"You're Evas provided us with some problems," the skull drone whispered as the tech priest chattered on in some kind of machine code. "Unarmed except for a simple knife, a rather poor decision by your old masters."

"I don't think it was avoidable," Asuka replied. "An Evangelion doesn't exactly have that much internal volume to spare on weaponry."

"Well, we have managed to work out a few solutions. Unfortunately, without the time or access to the machine shops on Mars, we were forced to use a few makeshifts. We've retrofitted some weapons from downed Titans." As they left the palace, the Tech-priest gestured at a massive six-barreled weapon with a crude stock and trigger resting on a large gantry nearby. "Only solid shot weapons unfortunately, the energy weapons are proving more difficult to re-wire. We've also managed to copy the power-connections for your 'Unit 02'. We don't have the cabling to wire it up to the palace's power supply. Since most of the ground-to-orbit lance batteries were destroyed early in the war, we've retrofitted their spare capacitors with the required connections. They should have enough power to last about an hour."

"An hour huh," Asuka muttered, looking up at the blocky capacitor. "Better then noth…" She was interrupted by the wail of a siren.

"That's the 'Wall breach' alarm!" the tech priest gasped. "Quickly, this way!"

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Shinji watched the Skull drone float in the LCL as he synchronized with Unit 01. Realizing that there wasn't likely to be a new source of LCL, he and Asuka had over-ridden the drainage system. From half-remembered lectures from Ritsuko, Shinji remembered that the filtration system could keep the LCL breathable for about a week at the outside. After that, they would just have to do without. So far, the skull-drone wasn't showing any signs of reacting poorly to the liquid, but given that he was stuck in the same Entry Plug as the machine, he wasn't planning on ignoring it either.

Shinji's attention went back to the screen as the colors cleared, to show the hanger and Unit 02 outside. A pair of screens popped up, one showing Asuka, the other showing the image of a stranger.

"I'm Comm-officer Fornacht," he said. "I'll be your liaison with high command."

"Wonderful" Asuka said flatly from the other screen, the Skull drone automatically translating the German word, as Unit 02 picked up a gatling cannon with one hand and used the other to attach a capacitor to it's back. Shinji followed suit, grabbing the Lancea Longinus and an oversized version of a Space Marine's Bolter.

"I wonder if I can find the Soul Cube somewhere around here," Shinji chuckled to himself, with an answering snort of laughter from Asuka.

"Just tell us where to go," she said after a moment glancing aside, presumably at her screen to Fornacht.

"There's been two breaches in the Wall," Fornacht replied after a confused glance between the two pilots, "one at section alpha-4, about 30 kilometers west of the gate and a second at section beta-9 156 kilometers east of the gate."

"Got it, I'll take the left, you can have the right Baka."

"Got it," Shinji replied, moving Unit 01 out and along the Wall to the right.

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"Fall back," Brother-Sergeant Haugt shouted, waving his squad away from the remains of the wall. Glancing back, he spotted the chaos mutants swarming after them. Already, there seemed to be hundreds in the gardens behind the wall. And Haugt and his squad were the only marines between them and the dozens of fleeing Guardsmen.

"Stop! Turn, pick your targets and FIRE AT WILL!" he yelled, bringing his bolt pistol to bear on a wild-eyed cultist and fired. He heard the familiar 'dakka, dakka' of the squad's Bolters opening up as his men turned and opened fire on their pursuers. It was a merger response, but Haugt prayed that they could hold off long enough for the Guardsmen to reach the second defensive positions and prepare for the coming assault.

Then, a shadow fell over the squad. An immense red figure strode up behind them, clutching a weapon in its hands. With a burst of fire, the gatling cannon opened up, whipping out an entire swarm of Cultists. Haugt watched stunned as it turned and sprayed a second burst towards another group of traitors, before shaking his head and reappraising the tactical situation.

"Charge!" Haugt yelled, leading his squad back towards the breach. Behind them, he could hear the Guard turn, officers impeaching their men into forcing the enemy back outside the Wall.

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Princeps Gratone ignored the faint tremors as the legs of his Titan, _Caedes_, smashed through the gap in the walls and into the Imperial gardens. There was a faint pinprick as a shell rebounded from his left leg. Gratone casually brought one of _Caedes_'s Turbolaser batteries to bear on the upstart Leman Russ and vaporized it.

Increasing power to his sensor cones, Gratone happily watched the Chaos forces expanding out of the breach, slaughtering everything in their path. Then he spotted a… red Titan. It was oddly humanoid, with arms instead of weapons, and the number '02' could be seen on it's carapace. It was casually strafing an army of fellow rebels with a gatling cannon cradled in it's arms. Gratone murmured a prayer to Khorne as he brought his Titan-scaled Multi-las on his left limb to bear. Unlike many of his cohorts, Gratone believed in the cold-blooded warfare of long-range mass murder, a facet of Khorne's love of blood that more… human followers couldn't grasp. Gratone had loved the feeling of picking off a Titan at a distance or obliterating a crowd of enemies with a single shot even before he pledged himself to Chaos. Given that most Titans don't have blood, the heat of bloodlust in close combat was denied him anyway.

Even as the first shot blasted out, the red 02 spun unnaturally quickly and, raising a hand, imposed a hexagonal, orange force field between the two war machines. The first shot hit the field harmlessly. The second, third and fourth shots also impacted on the strange shield, each causing the area of impact to fade slightly. The fifth shot blasted a gap in the shield and, having wasted most of its energy, blew a shallow crater in the 02's armor. The sixth and final shot, unblocked, slammed into and through the armor.

Gratone stared as blood spurted from the wound, and a switch flicked in his head as the heady scent reached _Caedes_'s sensors. He shouted, a battle cry that was echoed by his crew as all logic and reason was washed away in bloodlust, and the _Caedes_ charged forward, it's chain fist roaring into life.

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!"

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Asuka gasped in shock as the blast tore through her, _no_, she desperately thought, _Unit 02's chest_. Looking up, she spotted the enemy Titan, the name _Caedes_ barely visible on it's upper carapace. Desperately, she dropped and reformed her A.T. field.

She was almost too late.

The broken A.T. field, barely a few molecules thick, vanished, and reformed whole again. It reformed at the exact moment that _Caedes_ passed it. The rear half of the massive Titan came to a dead halt, as the A.T. field passed through shields, armor and people… and neatly bisected _Caedes_ down the middle.

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Gratone shrieked in agony as _Caedes_'s momentum crushed it's rear half against the immovable A.T. field and sent it's front half plummeting towards the ground. Neither half completed it's motion, as both halves of the ruined Genarium detonated simultaniously, flinging the Titan's head towards the ground. As it plummeted, Gratone felt Khorne's wrath descend on him. The last thing he felt, was a massive creature ripping his soul from his body.

Then he felt no more.

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_50 minutes later…_

Unit 02 dodged passed the Las-blast, ran through the Titan's Void Shields, grabbed it by the metal torso and then performed a move that would have been considered illegal by Asuka's long-dead karate teacher. The Titan proved to be slightly more resilient then a human, it took a whole second for it's back to break in two.

As Asuka stood Unit 02 back up, tossing the remnants of the Titan into the hoards outside the Wall, a sudden beeping drew her attention as the Eva switched to it's internal power supply. Glancing around, she noted that the other Chaos Titans were still a fair distance away from the breach in the wall. Turning, she moved Unit 02 back over the secondary defensive line, consisting of rapidly thrown together gun-emplacements and what few men could be spared from the wall.

Ejecting the Capacitor, she dropped it on a waiting trolley, which began to trundle back towards the Palace, and grabbed a replacement from a second trolley. Clicking it into place, Asuka watched the countdown reset itself and vanish.

She then let her gaze drift over the available weapons… and come to rest on what was obviously a rocket launcher. Unlike the old NERV types, this one consisted of eight missiles, the size of an EVAs forearm, arrayed around a central support arrayed with various types of sensors. At the rear a crude trigger and support had been welded on. Asuka reached down and picked it up.

"I like, I like," Asuka whispered to herself as she hefted the rocket launcher and bought it to bear… on nothing.

"Huh?" she murmured, searching the area outside the Wall for the Titans she had spotted earlier.

"Oh my…" Shinji gasped over the Comm. System from the other breach in the Wall. "They're leaving! We beat them off!"

"But…but…" Asuka stuttered, looking down at the rocket launcher she hadn't had the chance to use. "No fair!"

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The Emperor almost sagged with relief.

"They've fallen back?" he asked.

YES, MY LORD+ the heavily augmented, masked figure of Acting-Fabricator General Kane of the Adaptus Mechanicus replied, his relief evident even over the Vox-system in his throat. +IT'S NOT JUST THE REPORTS FROM THE GUARD, THE PALACE'S AUSPEX SYSTEMS TRACKED THEM FALLING BACK OUT OF RANGE+ Hiding a relived smile, the Emperor turned to the Lord Militant Haurage.

"Call half of your men off the walls and bring them back to the palace for some rest. Then organize a rotation of about four hours. If possible, I want all of our people well rested and fed before the traitors return."

"Of course, my Lord," Haurage replied, before turning to start passing orders to his advisors.

"Captain Angrimond." The yellow armored marine looked up from his discussion with the Administratum adepts.

"My Lord?"

"What's the status of the Flying Fortress?" Angrimond glanced down at the data-slate he was holding.

"We're mostly re-supplied, I'm just waiting on some of the heavier ordinance, which should be ready for loading in a hour or two."

"That's going to have to wait. I want you to take the Flying Fortress out to retrieve the White Scars Legion. With their support, we should be able to hold out nearly indefinitely. Certainly until reinforcements arrive from off-world, and the White Scars did indicate that they'd set the space-port they'd taken from the traitors to blow, so the Chaos forces can't reclaim that supply source."

"Of course my Lord. We'll leave momentarily."

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Angrimond watched the main viewscreen as the Flying Fortress drifted out over the ruins of the city. Jagged spires of ruined towers seemed to reach for the floating war machine as it drifted by, but the illusion was false. There were no hostile forces in the area, they had all fled to safety and…

"Captain!" a sensor monitor shouted. "I'm picking up some kind of large…Oh Emperor…"

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"My Lord!" a comm. officer shouted, interrupting the Emperor's discussion with Lord Militant Haurage. "An emergency message from Captain Angrimond on the Flying Fortress!"

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"Do you read me!" Angrimond shouted into the Vox set, "there's an immense Chaos force advancing towards the Palace! They were hiding behind some kind of Chaos sorcery, our Auspex systems couldn't see them until we were right on top of them! There's got to be nearly a million marines down there and at least hundred Titans supporting them, and they're only 20 kilometers from the Palace wall! They'll be on top of you in minutes! Do you…" Angrimond broke off as a blast from the forces below finally broke through the strained Void shields.

"_Multiple targets spotted at all positions. Beginning emergency saturation pattern."_

COMM. FALIURE, MY LORD+ a servitor informed him quietly.

"Damn it! Helm, come to 273-true bearing at 70 power," Angrimond shouted.

"Captain, the Chaos Titan's are firing!" a rating yelled out as space to the port of the bridge turned into light. "Our Void shields can't handle this level of fire power for long!" Angrimond cursed as the bridge shook.

"Gunnery officer, why aren't we returning fire on the port flank?"

"_Void shield failure, the Void shields are down!"_

"Captain Angrimond... all of our port side batteries report non-functional, I think the Gun-deck took several direct hits."

"By the Emperor... Helm, get us out of..." Angrimond's words were cut off as the viewscreens turned blinding white and the _Sky Fortress_ lurched sideways. The bridge filled with various reports and shouts as the various officers tried to combat the damage.

_"Head Magos reports that the main engines are failing, I repeat failing! We'll lose all power in five minutes!"_

_"Sensors detect boarding vessels rising from the Chaos lines."_

Brunt gazed out of the port viewscreens of the bridge as several Thunderhawks rose towards the _Sky Fortress_. A pathetically small number of tracer rounds fired from the remaining weapons in an attempt to hit them, before the guns went dead.

_"Gun-deck reports close-in defenses are out of ammo. The reload systems have failed!"_

_"Weapon ports 3-port and 5-port, main engineering, and Heavy missile battery 2-port report intruders!"_

Angrimond closed his eyes. Even without the intruders, no doubt some of the better Chaos melee forces, the engine failure guaranteed that the _Sky Fortress_ would plummet like a rock. "Can the Tech Magi restore the engines?"

Rating Helphantine, glanced up. "With the Grace of the Omnissiah..."

"Your piety does you credit, and the Tech Magi may appreciate it," Angrimond said, "but I need facts."

"We can't hold them sir, not with the incoming fire and the boarders."

"That's it then." Angrimond looked up as the main viewscreen began to clear. "Helm, come to 173-true bearing at maximum power."

"My Lord…" Rating Helphantine began, "that heading…"

"Takes us towards the center of the Chaos army. I know."

"Could we not abandon…"

"Over an entire Chaos army?" Silence greeted Angrimond's words. The _Sky Fortress_'s vibrations increased. "We have no choice."

Angrimond strode back to the centre of the bridge, and turned around slowly, letting his gaze touch on each officer and rating. "Gentlemen, it has been a pleasure and privilege to serve with each of you. Ave Imperator." He saluted as the _Sky Fortress_ began to fall.

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The _Sky Fortress_ hit the ground with the force of a bomb, crushing thousands beneath its weight. Then the remaining rocket, missile and fuel stores in its superstructure detonated, sending tongues of fire into the surroundings that incinerated dozens more. Finally, the main Plasma Genarium was breached.

A mushroom cloud signaled the birth of a second sun in the heart of the Chaos lines.

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To be continued…

Mars; The home world of the Adaptus Mechanicus, the planet is covered by a vast machine shop. The planet is still 'red' but because of rusting machines from ancient times rather then red iron sands.

Gatteling cannon, Vulcan Bolter; Large, rapid-fire weapons usually mounted on Titans. The rocket launcher described comes from a 30 story Emperor class Titan.

Turbolaser; Powerful energy weapon mounted on a Titan. Not strong enough to fight other Titans, but useful for dealing with smaller tanks.

Multi-las; weapon intended to shoot several low-powered lasers in rapid succession. Of course, low-powered is a relative term when applied to a Titan's weapons.

Fabricator General; Leader of the Adaptus Mechanicus

White Scars; A loyalist Space Marine Legion signified by their white armor and their love of using fast vehicles, mostly bikes. Well known for executing lightning-fast attacks on an unsuspecting enemy and then escaping before any serious opposition can be bought to bear. Prior to this story, the Legion had successfully taken one of Terra's two spaceports away from the Traitor forces, halving their flow of reinforcements in a stroke.


	9. Chapter 6

Rahhel; Come to thing of it, your right. 28,000 years stuck with only three other people to talk to, Shinji probably would have learned English and German. All that work trying to figure out a way to allow Shinji to understand Gothic was completely un-necessary!

Homer Simpson 'Doh!'

Oh well, I suppose it's better then attributing it to some kind of Dues est Machina (apart from the Machine God I mean). Maybe I'll work in an explanation for why Shinji didn't learn English or German or the final version. Anyway, thanks for reading.

KaOn KaI; Thanks! Only one or two more to go, though I doubt they'll compare to this one.

nick2951; Thank you, I always like to hear that people like my work. Though I've got exams in less then a week _(spends half an hour in a panic attack)_ I'll do my best not to leave the next chapter for too long.

As always, support, constructive criticism and money is always welcome. And even flames are welcome; the Imperial navy needs the fuel.

**Chapter Six**

Two fleets of ships, one group a dark black, the other fleet a light icy grey, tore their way through the shifting chaos of Warp space. In the lead was an immense Battlebarge with a stylized wolf head gracing it's hull. On the bridge two men, superhuman even by the standards of their brethren, stood, examining the main tactical holo-table. Scowling, Leman Russ turned to the ship's master Astropath.

"Has there been a response?" he growled, the wolves at his feet echoing his sentiment with growls of their own.

"No, my lord," the Astropath replied, his voice serene and unafraid. "Some fluctuation in the Warp perhaps or…"

"It doesn't matter," Lion El'Johnson replied, ignoring Russ' glare. "Keep sending the message. Add the fact that we are but a day's Warp Travel away from the Sol system."

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"Fall back. Fall back to the palace." Fornacht ordered over the comm.-link. Shinji nodded at the familiar words, before bringing the battered Unit-01 around for the jog back to the Ultimate Gate. The one thing that Shinji hadn't experienced during the Angel War was a siege. The Angels had all been defeated quickly, the fifth angel or the attack by the JSSDF had been rapid affairs. Even the seventh angel had only lasted a week, and that was a period of mostly inactivity and training. The overall battle had lasted less then an hour.

Over the two days since the death of the Flying Fortress, Shinji had seen and experienced more then enough to make up for that. Unlike before, dealing with the Chaos Titans had become extremely dangerous. Originally, Shinji had been able to use his Eva's much higher mobility and agility to get around a Titan, coming at it from the side or rear where it's weapons couldn't traverse to hit him. Now, however, the Chaos Titans were moving in packs, with formations that ensured that whatever angle Shinji tried to use, there was always a Titan facing him.

Unit 01's armor, capable of resisting an N2 mine without serious damage, was now badly battered and cracked. In several spots, the organic components of the Eva were exposed to the air between large rends in the armor plating.

Shinji blinked, and tried to wipe the tiredness from his eyes. Since the Wall had fallen, the Titans in the leading attack had taken out over 20 kilometers of it in their initial bombardment, pretty much all of the Imperium's forces had been driven back to the palace. Barely a few hours ago, Sanguinius of the Blood Angels had nearly fallen holding back a Bloodthirster daemon so the Ultimate gate could be sealed.

The Imperium's remaining forces in the palace gardens, consisting of several Titans, as well as Unit 01 and Shinji (Asuka having been forced to take Unit 02 inside the palace when it became impossible for the Adaptus Mechanicus to get the capacitors to her. Right now she was muttering angrily over the Comm. Channel as she used Unit 02's immense size and strength to hold the Ultimate Gate shut against the constant bombardment) had been fighting in this same pattern since the gate was closed. He would run out through a weak point, try to get behind the Chaos lines and smash a few of their supply lines, before running back to the comparatively safer cover of the Palace guns.

Shinji glanced up at a familiar whine, and watched yet another bomb detonate against the palace's shields.

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Despite the flickering void shields, the throne room shuddered under the impact. The Emperor glanced up at a secondary crack of parting stone and his eyes tracked an angel as it fell from it's support, a kilometer from the ground. Men and servitors scrabbled for cover as it smashed like a bomb, scattering shrapnel in all directions.

"My Lord, what are your orders?" Dorn asked, after glancing towards the remains of the statue. The Emperor hesitated, for the first time in his life almost scared. The statue falling, the same question asked thrice, these were his last memories of the future, foreseen only days ago. From here on, all he could see was darkness.

My Lord, what are your orders+ came again, this time from Acting-Fabricator General Kane. Even now, the Emperor could hear the death screams of those on Mars through his link with the Astropathic Choir. The former Fabricator General had sided with Horus, and under his orders the most ancient and terrible weapons of the Adaptus were ripping Mars' inhabitants apart.

"My Lord, what are your orders?" asked winged Sanguinius, his body still showing the marks of his battle with the Bloodthirster. The Emperor closed his eyes, unable to bare their faithful stares, assured that he would find a solution. The Emperor knew that he has no solution, no last-minute tactic. He had hoped that they might hold off long enough for help, for the fleets of the Imperium to arrive. But even the Space Wolves and the Dark Angels must be weeks away.

If they were even coming.

The Emperor cast his psychic gaze out, glaring at the arrayed might of the Chaos fleet, at Horus' almost unimaginable…

The Emperor frowned as he detected a flaw. The fleet is still there, a massive concentration of metal and firepower, and yet… _The Shields!_ The Emperor opened his eyes wide in shock as he realized the enormity of what he saw, and forced himself to double-check. _His shields! They are down! What kind of arrogance…_

The Emperor shrugged off the thought, and his awareness that it could be a trap. He had come too far to allow the forces of darkness to claim humanity now.

"Kane, contact your brethren in the Teleportarium. Tell them to power up their systems and lock onto the Chaos flagship." He turned, and looked over a sea of surprised faces. "Horus has made a mistake. His ship's shields are down." Ignoring the sudden rise of hope in the faces around him, the Emperor reached up and removed the helmet that links him to the Astropathic Choir, before turned back to Dorn and Sanguinius. "Assemble your Terminators. We take this fight to the enemy."

The Emperor waited until the last marine had strode past him, the floor vibrating under the heavy Terminator armor, before moving to his own position within the circle of charging coils.

All the marines that could be spared from the defensive positions were here, more then an entire battle company of marines, all wearing red, yellow or gold Terminator armor of the Blood Angel, Imperial Fists and Adeptus Cusdodes respectively_. And it might not be enough_, the Emperor mused silently over the crackle of the discharging coils.

_A moment of discontinuity…_

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Shinji glanced up with a frown. He had been resting in the seat of the entry plug while command tried to find a new weak spot where he could break through the Chaos lines, when some noise caught his attention. Glancing around, he spotted a ring of cultists. Shinji had seen several of these summoning circles, with a dozen or so Sorcerers pulling reality apart to allow a daemon through. _But those were only a few meters wide_, Shinji thought, _this one's huge!_ It was easily a hundred meters wide, and the chanting was so loud that Shinji could hear it from several kilometers away.

"Command… I've got something strange going on over here," Shinji said, keying the comm. "It looks like a ritual of some kind, and it's too close for comfort."

"Hold on a second…" There was a faint murmur as Fornacht checked with hs superiors. "Go and check it out. We'll try and give you support." Shinji carefully bought Unit 01 back on it's feet. Before he took a single step forward, however, there was a sharp _crack_ of energy, causing Shinji to stagger back in surprise.

Shaking his head in an attempt to remove the purple afterimage of the lightning bolt, Shinji looked back over at the circle. The lightning had hit dead in the center with the force of a bomb. It had been so powerful in fact that the sorcerers had all been killed. Smoke was raising from the ground in tendrils, hiding the sight from view.

_Smoke…_ Shinji frowned. _The ground was barren. There wasn't anything to ignite and burn. Where's the smoke coming…_

The ground exploded out, throwing Unit 01 against the Palace walls, crushing a gun battery with it's massive weight. As Shinji watched in shock, the smoke coalesced into a new, horrific form…

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_A moment of discontinuity…_

And the Emperor came as close to stumbling as a man in Terminator armor can, as the horrific sights, smells and sounds abused his natural and supernatural senses. The Emperor desperately fought to impose a form of order on what he could see. He was alone; the other marines and even his own Adeptus Cusdodes must have been scattered during the teleport. He was in some kind of tunnel, but…

The walls seemed to be made of a kind of dark flesh, which crawled and writhed disturbingly, covered with inlet runes that speak of death, decay and war. Somehow, the Emperor knew that the dull white material was human bone. Objects protruded out of the walls at irregular intervals, limbs for various creatures that clutching and writhing as if in agony. A thick, cloying mist floated above the floor, not only stealing away sight, but dampening even the Emperor's psychic powers to little more then that of an ordinary human.

_If I needed proof of Horus' true allegiance_, the Emperor thought to himself as he moved out to find his wayward son, _this is all the proof I need._

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The daemon-creature unfolded from it's crouched squat to it's full height, easily a match for a Titan or Eva. The daemon was blood red in color, it's wiry form clad in colossal armor, articulating with the blade-edged rasp of metal on metal. It's canine features were twisted, it's horned and leering face turning to gaze at the Ultimate gate before it while it's eyes and nostrils blazed with an inner fire. It was an armored slaughterer, black-leather bat-wings unfurling from it's back as it curled it's vast knuckles, blood-stained chainmail wrapped and stapled to it's very flesh, around an axe that dripped red fluids. A Bloodthirster of immense proportions.

Shinji covered his ears in pain as it threw its head back and roared. Then it bent it's head down, and charged straight for the Ultimate gate, a red mist of heat and vapor following it like a shroud.

_Asuka!_ Shinji moved automatically, charging straight towards the creature, slamming Unit 01's right shoulder into the monster and forcing it to the ground.

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Despite the changes that the vessel had undergone, the Emperor recognized the overall layout as that of a Battlebarge of the Astartes. Despite this, it had taken nearly an hour to work his way up to the viewing chamber above the main command deck. Disturbingly, the entrance to the chamber seemed to resemble a mouth, teeth of steel glinting between lips of brass. As he approached, it pulled open, revealing the room beyond.

The Emperor saw it all in a single second. The heaped bodies lining the walls, loyalist and traitor alike. The immense 20 meter viewport overlooking the war-choked sphere of Terra. Horus standing over the dead body of Sanguinius. A drop of blood dropped from Horus' lightning claw as he turned to face the Emperor.

"Poor Sanguinius," Horus growled, sounding as emotionless as if he were commenting on the weather. "I offered him a position of power in the new order. He could have sat at the right hand of a god. Alas, he chose to align himself with the losing side." The Emperor stared in shock. It was many seconds before he could bring himself to even utter one word.

"Why?" he whispered.

"Why? You ask me why?" Horus cackled in amusement. "Have all those millennia taught you nothing? Weak fool, your timidity prevented you from binding the forces of Chaos. You shied away from ultimate power. I have bound it to my will, and will lead humanity into the new age. I, Horus, Master of Chaos."

"You have deluded yourself," the Emperor snarled in reply. "You are the servant, not the master." Horus gestured angrily, his mirth forgotten. The Emperor collapsed, biting back a scream as forbidden sorcery set every nerve in his body on fire with pain.

"Feel the true nature of my power," Horus growled, "then tell me I am deluded!" Struggling back to his feet, sweat pouring off his face, the Emperor pulled himself back to his feet.

"You are deluded," he gasped. Horus sneered, and gestured again. Impossibly, the pain increased.

"I let you come here, old friend," he growled, "so that you could witness my triumph. Kneel before me and I will spare you. Acknowledge the new master of mankind." The Emperor felt his knees try to buckle as Wych-fire played across his nerves. Forcing himself past the pain, the Emperor thrust desperately with his mind. The blow struck home, crackling lightning and psychic frost formed on Horus' armor as it absorbed the blow. The pain vanished as Horus stumbled back in surprise, and the Emperor leaped forward, sword raised.

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Shinji jumped Unit 01 back, the blood-stained axe narrowly missing Unit 01's abdomen. Silently cursing himself for forgetting to grab an effective weapon before his charge, Shinji backed up again while raising Unit 01's Prog knife, which had been broken in half in an earlier attempt to block the massive axe. Right now, Shinji's options seemed to be limited to desperately leading the Bloodthirster round in a circle while he desperately searched for some way to attack.

The weapon emplacements around the Ultimate gate were useless, shattered by the earlier attacks, he'd left the guns back at his earlier position against the Palace, Asuka had the lance (given that Unit 02 was in a much more dangerous position with it's reliance on external power, she had demanded the weapon to maximize her effectiveness).

_Dammit!_ Shinji thought, his mind, focused on dodging the Bloodthirster's attacks, ignored the clang of opening metal behind him. _I've got noth…_

"Catch you stupid Baka!" Spinning, Shinji spotted Unit 02 standing between the gaping doors of the Ultimate gate. Instinctively, Shinji grabbed at the object Unit 02 had tossed at him. Spinning with the objects weight and momentum, Shinji ended up facing the Bloodthirster, the Lancea Longinus in his hands and pointing straight at the daemon.

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The Emperor grunted in pain as he slammed into a bulkhead, organic metal tearing with a disturbingly organic noise. Ripping his way out of the wall, the Emperor swung his sword in a desperate counter-attack. Horus ducked, far faster then anybody in terminator armor should be able to, and the blow missed, the sword ending up embedded in a ceiling support.

Before the Emperor could pull his sword loose, Horus jabbed a swift punch to his chest. Lightning claws sliced through the armor like it was cloth. The Emperor gasped as a lung was punctured by his own sliced ribs, and desperately stabbed back with a psychic lash. Horus laughed as he casually swatted the whip of psychic force away.

A second slice ripped open the Emperor's throat, a blow that could have killed an ordinary man, and threatened to drive the Emperor into unconsciousness. He desperately swung out his left arm, bringing his crackling power fist up in a desperate upper-cut. The blow connected, forcing Horus back and cutting a gouge out of his armor.

In anger, Horus raised his hand, and fired off a jet of Warp energy. For the first time that he can remember, the Emperor screamed in agony as his hair igniting in the heat while his face's flesh began to literally melt off. An eye went with it, popping under the pressure of the magical power.

Desperately, the Emperor tried to figure out how he could be losing as Horus casually threw him into another bulkhead. The Emperor groaned again as a fresh spike of pain accompanied the sharp crack of his breaking spine. Reaching down, Horus casually ripped off the Emperor's arm, sparks flying from the shattered power fist as it shuts down, before slamming the Emperor's broken body back down onto the floor.

Desperately fighting the pain, the Emperor's remaining eye sought out Horus' gaze as Horus crouched over the body of his father. Staring into his eyes, the Emperor desperately searched for any remnants of his son, but found only madness. Grinning, Horus brought his claw up in a blow that both of them know will end it.

"NOOOOOOO!" Gunfire bounced off Horus' armor, bolts rebounding into the walls and floor. Surprised, both Horus and the Emperor break their shared stare, searching for the source of the attack. In horror, the Emperor's red gaze found a Terminator in the yellow livery of the Imperial Fists charging at Horus, screaming in anger and blasting away with a Storm Bolter.

Horus chuckled as he stood up, making a single gesture. The marine froze in the middle of his charge, Strom Bolter dropping from suddenly nerveless fingers. The Emperor desperately tried to speak, but his shattered voice box failed him. Horus gestured again with his outstretched hand, and a plume of fire stretched from his outstretched hand to engulf the frozen marine. The Emperor tried to turn away, but Horus planted a foot on the side of his head, forcing him to watch. Slowly the fire burned away the armor, then the marine's flesh. Soon, all that's left is a fire-blackened skeleton. Horus casually walked over and blew out a small puff of air. The skeleton broke apart into ash that faded away into a cloud of dust.

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Acting instinctively, Shinji thrust the Lancea Longinus straight at the chest of the blood-red monster. The lance, supernaturally sharp, capable of slicing through an A.T. field as if it weren't there, stopped dead in its path as it hit the daemon's skin.

The Bloodthirster cackled, and casually swept its massive axe up, knocking the lance out of Unit 01's grasp and into the distance. The daemon kicked out hard, connecting with Unit 01's chest and forcing it onto it's back. As Shinji tried to bring Unit 01 back up, he felt a foot plant itself firmly on Unit 01's abdomen. Shinji looked up, and saw the Bloodthirster raise it's axe over it's head.

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The Emperor knew now. He had failed because he was fighting his comrade, his friend… his son. That was the true nature of the trap he had fallen into. But he could see now. Around the body of Horus, ethereal shadows, the four gods of Chaos, clung to Horus' body and mind, playing him like a puppet. The Emperor hadn't been fighting his beloved son, he had been fighting the four Chaos Powers directly.

Despair and confusion gone, the Emperor's mind filled with anger. His body shattered, his weapons gone, the Emperor reached for the one weapon he still had.

By the time Horus spun around in terror, it was already too late. The ship itself quivered as the Emperor pulled the psychic power out of the warp, the bodies around him, the walls, the very air itself, focusing it all into a glowing ball of pure light in front of his forehead. There was no limit to the power this time, no safe wards to limit the power to something safe that won't kill him. The Emperor knew that there would be only one chance.

Horus gestured desperately, trying to summon his powers, but the Emperor's attack had drained even those. The Emperor could see Horus' eyes flicker around desperatly, but this time there was no escape.

Suddenly, Horus screamed, and collapsed to his knees. Darkness seemed to rip it's way out of his back, floating into fading chaotic shapes. The light faded slightly, as the Emperor saw sanity flow back into Horus' eyes, along with horrified realization. _He's still contaminated! _the Emperor thought. _The forces of Chaos can still re-enter him. I have to finish it now!_

The Emperor hesitated, his eye meeting Horus' sickened gaze…

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Shinji desperately bought up his arm, Unit 01 copying his actions. The immense axe fell, and it's supernaturally sharp edge sliced right through Unit 01's forearm, the breast armor plating…and straight through into the Entry Plug itself.

Shinji screamed in agony as the very edge of the axe sliced through his real arm, stopping a few centimeters from his face. Through his agony, Shinji felt the sickening lurch as the daemon ripped the axe out of his…Unit 01's chest.

Through tear-streaked eyes, blood-stained LCL and the flickering side screens that hadn't been shattered by the blow, Shinji watched the Bloodthirster raise it's axe for one last blow.

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…and Horus nodded, once.

_Do it father._

The Emperor closed his eyes. And fulfilled his duty.

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Shinji watched in shock, clutching the stump of his left arm, as the daemon literally staggered back for no reason. It howled once, then exploded into a fine, black cloud of dust that faded into the wind. Shinji sagged in relief, and happily fainted.

Had he remained awake a few minutes longer, he would have seen a semi-translucent pair of black tendrils stretch out of the shadows, snag his severed forearm, and fade out of sight. Outside, larger tendrils repeated the action with Unit 01's severed limb, pulling it into the shadows.

Horus' death scream reverberated throughout the Imperium. Mutants, heretics and Chaos marines howled in loss. Daemons evaporated back into the Warp screaming in agony. Sorcerers exploded when the backwash of energy hit them. Machines twisted by warp magic collapsed back into their original shape, before the shock ripped them apart.

Throughout the Imperium, the traitors turned and fled, their power and might crumbling before the astonished eyes of the loyalist defenders.

To be continued…

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Space Wolves; Hailing from the frozen world of Fenris, the Space Wolves are a Legion of noble warriors, well versed in the act of savagery. Although described as blood-thirsty savages by their opponents, a Space Wolf actually comes to a battle with a clear mind, allowing him to handle any enemy fooled by this tale. The Space Wolves hold a bitter rivalry with the marines of the Dark Angels, first formed during the Great Crusade when Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves, and Lion El'Johnson, Primarch of the Dark Angels, came to blows during a disagreement. Ever since, the two legion s have constantly fought to outdo each other, although when they fight side by side no enemy can stand before their might.

Dark Angels; Under command of the Primarch Lion El'Johnson, the Dark Angels are fanatically devoted to the Emperor, with a faith in him that far outshines many of the other loyalist legions. Focused warriors, the legion at present has little to tell it apart from other legions, with no special knowledge of any specific aspect of war (unlike, for example, the siege specialists the Imperial Fists). Despite this, they are capable warriors, at home in any theater of warfare.

Teleportarium; The Imperium's teleporter system. Moves people from one place to another by converting them to energy. Slow, dangerous and not often used or understood.

Adeptus Cusdodes; The Emperor's personal bodyguard, the Cusdodes never leaves the Emperor's person. The genetic alteration seems to be better then that of a common marine, they are capable of taking blows that would kill a space marine in a second. Not much else is known about this mysterious force.

Power Fist; A massive glove-like device. A power fist generates an energy field that breaks apart the forces holding atoms together, allowing the wearer to 'punch' through even the thickest armor. A lightning claw is basically a power fist mounted with blades with the same energy field, allowing the user to slash and stab with each blow.


	10. Chapter 7

Author's note

Well, I'm finally back with the last chapter. First thing's first. I do intend to write a sequel to this story. However, I intend to wait until I have the first few chapters written before I post anything, to be sure that it won't simply peter out into nothing in the middle.

Second, I also intend to edit and re-work this story for errors, spelling mistakes, etc. So if anybody has any suggestions, areas of the story they think needs more explanation for example, feel free to send them in.

zero0x3000; Thanks!

As for the Emperor, although he was part angel in his infancy (during which he gained immortality and psychic powers), the angel DNA was expelled by the accelerated growth he went through, so genetically he's fully human. A more complete explanation is in the prologue. Also Horus was very close to being a full clone of the Emperor, and he's got the full power of Chaos behind him. That always tends to twist the scales a bit.

Yoshomo; Thank you, and Ouch probably doesn't even begin to describe it!

Liljimmyurine; I'm glad to know you like it.

Of all the pictures I've seen of Horus vs. the Emperor, both seemed to be wearing Terminator Armor. Although neither the Primarchs or the Emperor (presumably) have the implants to be able to fully use Terminator Armor (as they have no Black Carapace implants), I imagine that a virtually anyone would spring for Terminator armor if they had the choice (with the exception of Sanguinius who, If memory serves, only wore a cloth robe in battle).

As for the Emperor arriving alone shrugs call it dramatic necessity.

nick2951; Sorry I didn't update sooner, but my life was fairly hectic for a while. Then my muse abandoned me for over a week. Anyway, better late then never I hope. And I'm glad you enjoyed the Emperor's last stand.

Rahhel; Thanks, it took me ages to get the fights right.

As for the language thing, I suspect I'll probably say that Shinji and Asuka were communicating soul-to-soul directly in a way that surpassed language. Hence Shinji couldn't learn German, because anything that Asuka said arrived in his head as Japanese.

If that makes sense.

melgar; Thank you.

I haven't seen all of NGE either, I only saw up to Episode 16, the rest I've assembled through reading websites and fanfiction.

When Asuka tossed the lance to Shinji, I felt it was a simple choice; either the massive rocket launcher or the holy lance that from personnel experience (having been impaled by several copies of it before) she knew would go through virtually anything. Besides, it was probably closer to hand.

I don't think that my writing skills are up to the ask of describing how Shinji and Asuka came to terms with finding themselves 28,000 years into the future, so I kind of side-stepped the issue by having them come to terms with it while they were still in Units 01 and 02. Hence, I don't really want them to forget that time. Good idea otherwise, though.

As for the arm, Xellos That… is a secret.

As always criticism and advice is welcome, flamers get a one-way ticket to the Ocularis Terribus.

**Chapter Seven**

_Five Minutes After the Death of Horus_

Rogal Dorn glanced down the corridor leading past the main viewing chamber near the command deck, ignoring the almost painful tension in his body. He'd been fighting his way through the cursed ship for over an hour. Although he had managed to gather 17 loyalist marines, of varying legions, during that time, the fighting had been tiring…and disturbing.

It was too much like fighting through a loyalist ship. Yes, the structure of the ship had seemed more organic then metallic, but the overall floor plan seemed virtually identical to any other Battlebarge. Now though…

Dorn knew that something had to have happened. The kill-team had just left the bridge (although they had killed the crew there, Dorn hadn't been satisfied with what would normally been a prime target; there was no sign of the Emperor or Horus) when the shop had quivered and a psychic scream of anguish had filled Dorn's mind. Now, the ship was altering itself, metal groaning as it reformed back into what appeared to be it's original shape as psychic energies seemed to flow out of the very walls themselves.

"Stay here. Maintain overwatch." Dorn ordered over the Comm. Net, before pulling the door open. The chamber on the other side was not all that much different to the rest of the ship, aside from the immense view port in the wall. Dorn's gaze took in the varied corpses that littered the room. Most were unidentifiable. Two, oddly by themselves, were even worse then the others, so covered with scratch marks, blood and dust that they were unidentifiable. The body, which captured Dorn's attention, however, was the broken form of Sanguinius.

_Oh Sanguinius…_ Dorn walked over and gently closed the angelic Primarch's lifeless eyes. "You WILL be avenged brother." Dorn growled, thumping his fist to his chest in the mark of respect to the fallen. "I swear it." His statement was answered with a groan.

Startled, Dorn looked up, instinctively leveling his Storm Bolter at the sound. One of the bodies had groaned. It was so battered, and burned that it was virtually impossible to identify the man, or even which side the warrior had stood on. Dorn studied the moaning figure as he came to his feet. _There's something familiar about that…_

Dorn's Storm Bolter hit the floor as his Universe seemed to collapse around him.

"MY LORD!" Dorn shouted, running forward and lifting the Emperor's torso. A single crimson eye fastened onto his gaze, before flickering sideways. Glancing over, Dorn spotted the other body. Now he knew what to look for, Dorn noticed the tell-tale marks, the spiked Power Claw-Bolter, the 'Eye of Horus' symbol almost hidden under dust and blood. Horus was definitely dead; living people tend to have heads.

"The traitor is dead, my Lord. Our mission is done," Dorn said, turning back to face the Emperor. The Emperor nodded weakly. A faint mental voice, battered and strained to the point of fracture, whispered into Dorn's head, giving him the Emperor's last orders.

"As you wish, my Lord," Dorn whispered as the Emperor's remaining eye closed, before activating his Comm. unit. "Acting-Fabricator General Kane!"

Receiving you, Dorn+ Kane replied over the link.

"Emergency extraction now. Lock on all friendly IFF beacons and get our warriors out of this cursed ship."

But what about your mission? The Chaos forces are all in retreat… Is the monster dead+ Dorn glanced at the charred, headless corpse lying next to the massive hole in the bulkhead. Psychic frost still covered both.

"Yes. The traitor is dead. Get us out of here."

_There was a familiar sense of discontinuity._

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_A Day After the Death of Horus_

"GAH!"

Shinji thrust himself up on his elbows, eyes wide. A few seconds passed as he stared around, before sagging back to the covers in relief. Despite the stone walls, hissing pipes and leering gargoyles, the smell of antiseptic, the silence, occasionally broken by a groan, implied; hospital. Different to NERV's long gone facility perhaps, but still a hospital.

Shinji stared up at the ceiling of cracked stone, broken by the occasional pipe and suppressed an ironic chuckle. _Now that is an unfamiliar ceiling_, he thought to himself.

"Ah, I see you're awake Princeps," a voice came from the doorway. Shinji tried to push himself up on his hands, and nearly fell off the bed as he overbalanced. "Whoa, whoa. You need to be careful," the man said, running over to grab Shinji's shoulder. "You've taken some serious damage Princeps."

Part of Shinji's mind noted the small staff and snake pin on the man's uniform that identified him as a doctor. Most of Shinji's mind, however, was completely focused on his left arm, or rather the bandaged stump that had replaced his left forearm, just below the elbow.

"You're actually fairly lucky," the Doctor's voice continued, causing Shinji's stunned mind to slowly re-focus on the rest of the world.

"Lucky?" Shinji gasped.

"Yes, whatever removed your forearm was incredibly sharp, the slice is practically ruler straight." The Doctor shrugged. "Most of the work we had to do was just to 'tidy up' the wound. If it had been a crude cut, you would likely have lost the elbow as well. As it is, the Tech-priests are working on a mechanical replacement, and if things ever calm down, you may actually get a vat-cloned replacement." Shinji allowed himself to collapse back on the sheets.

"So, what about the war? The last thing I remember is seeing them vanish…"

"I don't know much, but the rumors from the injured Guardsmen here say that we've won. Apparently, the enemy force fled, abandoning any of their forces that weren't moving fast enough. Some stories say that the enemy literally vanished, leaving nothing but dust. I can't tell you much that's actually fact, unfortunately. All I know for sure is that the guns have stopped firing. High Command seems to be sitting on all the other facts."

"What about Asuka? I mean the other, ah, Princeps like me. The one commanding the red Eva?"

"I don't know for sure. I think that the remaining Titans were ordered on some kind of search and destroy mission though. Perhaps she went with them." Shinji chuckled, the image of Asuka finally getting to use the missile launcher like she wanted.

As the Doctor left, presumably to check on his other patients, Shinji let his eyes close. _So_, Shinji wondered as he slowly slid back into sleep, _now what?_

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With a faint hum, the silvery glow of a stasis field snapped into life, outlining the shape of the human inside. Fabricator General Kane moved back from the gold-coated console and turned to face Dorn.

IT'S DONE. THE EMPEROR IS ALIVE, AND THE STASIS FIELD WILL MAINTAIN HIM INDEFINITELY. HE WILL NEED A NEW SOURCE OF…ENERGY TO MAINTAIN THE CONNECTION BETWEEN MIND AND BODY, HOWEVER. THIS MEANS THAT…+

"I don't care," Dorn growled. "Our Lord is alive, yes?"

YES, BUT…+

"The other considerations are for other people to deal with. I and my Legion are leaving," Dorn replied, turning and walking out.

WHAT? BUT WHAT ABOUT TERRA+ Kane asked running after him. Neither paid much attention as golden armored Space Marines silently closed and took guard positions outside the room they had just left.

"The Space Wolves and Dark Angels are here in full strength, the Ultramarines will arrive shortly and the Blood Angels and White Scars still have a fairly large level of combat capacity. Terra will be fine." Dorn paused as he tapped the controls of the door to the palace's upper landing pads. It hissed open, revealing a small landing platform sticking out from the side of the palace. A yellow painted Thunderhawk dropship stood there, waiting. "I, however, intend to pursue my wayward brethren. I will pursue them all the way to hell if need be." The door hissed shut behind him.

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_A Month After the Death of Horus_

A man who was not a man stared out at the shifting colors of the Eye of Terror as his anger almost physically coiled and twisted around him. Under his command, the Black Legion had retreated into this holy warp doorway and carved out this world for their own.

"The galaxy shall burn," Abaddon, Captain of the 1st Company finally growled, turning from the window. He stepped onto the lift, his bodyguard carefully shuffling in to avoid knocking him, a difficult task for a heavily armed terminator. The lift shuddered as it descended to one of the manufatorium levels, past vast spaces where hundreds of slaves toiled over the weapons that would soon support their cruel master. Abaddon strode towards the gantry outside the lift as soon as it shuddered to a halt and the door opened.

This level was nearly quiet, the faint screams from the levels above and below almost inaudible. Suspended in the middle of this vast area, suspended by dark, magical arts, hung a single, blood-stained object. As long as a Basilisk cannon, vaguely cylindrical and topped by a massive hand, it floated serenely before the marines, the faint words ' EVA01TEST ' visible underneath the orange-red stains. Abaddon watched it slowly spin for a while, before his mouth split into a bloodless grin.

"The galaxy shall burn."

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_Four Months After the Death of Horus_

Within the darkness, two figures stood, illuminated only by the faint glow of a data screen.

IT IS DONE+ one of the figures, shapeless in a bulky robe muttered. Several mechendrites pulled out of the console, taking up their customary position around the figure. +WERE THIS ORDER TO COME FROM ANYONE ELSE…+

"The program-prayer is in place?" the second figure, a seven foot tall armored figure asked. "The Warp drive will peak as ordered?"

YES+ the robed figure growled angrily as they turned to leave the compartment. +BUT THIS PROGRAM-PRAYER, IT'S A HERESAY AGAINST THE MACHINE-GOD! WHEN THE MAGI HEAR OF…+ Without warning the armored figure reached over, grabbed the robed Tech-priest's head and pulled hard. With the dull snap of bone, the Tech-priest slumped to the floor. The armored figure stepped back, waiting for the writhing mechendrites to still, before reaching down and lifting the corpse up.

Lifting up a deck hatch, the figure dropped the corpse into the maintenance shaft beneath. With luck, the body wouldn't be found until long after the journey began. Turning, the figure quickly made his way to the ship's exit, the glow from a flickering candle revealing golden power armor for a second before he passed back into shadow.

"As He wills it."

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Cyclops_ Class Cargo ship, _Sol's Fury

_Part of Imperial Mass Cargo Convoy 10-7446b_

_En Route to Gryphonne IV, Forge World_

_Personnel and Cargo Classified-Adaptus Mechanicus Priority a16-62_

It was the middle of the night period.

Shinji stared into Unit 01's dark eyes from the gantry mounted on the wall of the Cargo hold. It had been slightly more then four months since he had left Unit 01, and Shinji felt like he had run the full gauntlet of human emotions.

Horror at the wanton destruction of the site of Tokyo 3 and the war engulfing the planet.

Shock at the shear length of time that had passed since the Angel war that he and Asuka had spent inside their respective Evas.

Wonder at the technology and people around the in 'the future'.

Hope when they had beaten off the legions of Chaos.

Fear when the Sky Fortress fell and the defenses fell one after another.

And now… disappointment. The end of the greatest war humanity had ever fought and then…nothing. _I suppose I should feel happy_, Shinji mused silently, _but…_ It was like the ultimate anti-climax. It had been like a return to business as normal, though admittedly a very active business as normal. Since the end of the Heresay, both Shinji and Asuka had been trying to come to terms with the changes around them since they had left Tokyo 3 behind so long ago. In a way the largest thing for them to deal with; virtually everything they had known vanishing into history, had been the easiest thing to deal with. _After all_, Shinji mused with dark humor, _28,000 years stuck in one place gave us plenty of time to come to terms with our predicament, even if it felt like a much shorter time._

Shinji let his eyes drop to the new, artificial limb protruding from his left elbow. It was quite good, almost as flexible and effective as his real arm even if the pistons and motivators were exposed to the air, and he had been offered a 'vat-grown' replacement. Shinji suspected that he would probably hold out on that, every time he heard 'vat-grown' his mind kept flashing back to when Doctor Ritsuko had shown him and Misato the Room of Gaulf. The image of the giggling Rei clones was more then enough to make Shinji stick with his new artificial limb, regardless of how uncomfortable it sometimes was.

Shinji's eyes rose back to the darkened eyes of his Eva. _Ever since I learned of you, I always wanted to run away from you. And now I'm not needed, there are no Angels threatening humanity now, I can't bear to leave you. Well, I suppose there are worse fates. It least neither of us will have to fight again._

Shinji's chuckle caused Asuka to glance over from her own staring match with Unit 02.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh… it's nothing." Asuka rolled here eyes before returning to staring at Unit 02.

_I wonder I she's having the same thoughts as I am…_ Shinji mused before letting his gaze drift to the shapeless robes and simple clothes that they both wore. _Or given how much she enjoyed shopping_, he chuckled to himself, _she could just be moaning about the Imperium's lack of 'fashion sense'._

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Deep within the Cognitar backs of the _Sol's Fury_, a hidden program went to work.

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Tech-Magi Kroten flinched as the bass rumble of the immense Warp Drive came to a halt. As the various indentured crewmen and Tech-priest milled around in confusion, Kroten strode into their midst angrily.

"Shut up!" he shouted, in a voice that, almost uniquely in the Cult of Mars, came from his original voice box, "Mortan, take your work group and begin the prayers of Damage Assesment. Hartmoun, bring your people with me, I want access to the main drive protocols, and I'll need assistance with the entreaties of access. Move!"

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Daemons clustered around the ships of the convoy as they slowed to a stop. They ripped at the shields that surrounded the fleet, searching for a crack, a gap, any route no matter how small into the ships and their crews. They had been trying unsuccessfully for weeks, unable to penetrate the ships' defenses.

Nobody would ever know what caused it. A circuit failing in its duty to the Machine God or a servitor adjusting the field controls too slowly perhaps. Regardless of the cause, the result was terrifying. A tiny gap, measured only in millimeters, opened in the Gellar field for less then a second.

A single entity, twisted through the gap, lunging towards the ship within. It was desperate, inside the Gellar field, where the physics weren't the Chaotic ones of the Immaterium outside but were the hard and course laws of reality, it took energy to hold itself together. It flew through the ship, leaving a trail of cold and fear as it passed, searching for an open mind, a mind it could use…

And it found one.

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"Alert," a recording of a servitor's voice called out from the speakers of the Cyclops-class transport _Sol's Fury_, waking Captain Loriasien instantly. "Alert. Anonymous energy reading detected. Astropathic tower. Alert." As the warning started to repeat, Loriasien leaped out of the bed, grabbed his jacket and strode towards the intercom.

"Captain to the bridge," he said angrily as he pushed the button to connect him to Hormius, his Executive officer. "What the hell is going on?"

"Sir," Hormius voice came back, worried and slightly tinny, "I'm not sure. All control functions and communications from the Astropathic tower have stopped, and the energy readings have gone off the charts. We're reading over…" Loriasien stopped listening to Hormius as his jacket slipped from now nerveless fingers. There was no technology that could direct a ship through the Warp, only the psychic Navigators were capable of seeing into that desolate realm, and a ship without a navigator was a ship without a hope of survival.

"Hormius, listen to me," Loriasien said, speaking carefully into the intercom. "Send a message to the escorting Naval units. We are to perform an emergency jump out of the Warp. Ask them to jump out at their leisure and rejoin us at their discretion. Tell the Tech-priests to do what they can to get us out of the Warp safely, and…" Loriasien's voice dropped to a whisper, "send every security officer you can find to the Astropathic Tower. Have them heavily armed and prepared for anything. I'll get to the bridge as soon as possible."

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Ignoring the frantic panic around them, the servitors wired into the Warp Drive continued to work, re-programming the prayer-equations governing the Warp Drive, all according to the actions of a single hidden program.

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"Captain on deck."

"Report," Loriasien snapped as he strode up to the pedestal in the center of the bridge and glanced over the consoles below. Above him, the massive Plasta-steel shutters continued to cover the bridge's glass dome, preventing the madness-inducing light of the Warp from reaching the bridge.

"I have some good news." Hormius replied, looking up from a nearby console. "The security troopers have informed me that two of our five Astropaths are safe and sane. They're being hocked up to the logic-engines now, and should guarantee us a safe passage out of the Warp. The troopers also found body parts corresponding to two of the other three Astropaths, but they have yet to account for the fifth." Hormius glanced down at the Dataslate that he was holding. "However, according the Tech-priests down in main engineering, the Warp-drive itself isn't responding normally, though they say they'll have it back shortly. On top of that, I've been receiving reports of some kind of intruder, heading towards the Geller generators. Reports, or at least as much of them as we receive, indicate that the attacker is our fifth Astropath. The reports however…" Hormius shock his head and silently passed over the slate. Loriasien read the report.

"…holy God-Emporor…" Loriasien gasped, before shaking himself. "Right, so the Astropath is possessed. Give the troopers orders to shoot on sight, and at all costs keep him away from the Ge…"

"Sir," an ensign called out from the level below, "a report from Tech-priest Gorazien in the Geller generator control room. He reports…" the ensign shut up as the ship shook.

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It had no name, only awareness and hunger. It was alone here, and its host was only a human, despite the changes forced on it. It needed its brethren. And it knew how to get them. The metal objects ahead of it were pulsing with energy. Although it had never seen Gellar generators before, it somehow knew that these brittle, metal contraptions were all that stopped its brothers from joining it. It raised a twisted hand-claw, and cleaved the generators in two.

With a disappointingly plain 'pop', the Gellar field vanished. And hordes of Daemons rushed in towards the _Sol's Fury_ and the humans within.

"Alert. Gellar field failure. Anonymous energy reading detected. Deck 4."

Shinji staggered as the ship suddenly shook around him. As he and Asuka instinctively grabbed the railings for support, he was suddenly aware that he was standing on an all too frail walkway suspended 18 stories in the air.

"Alert. Anonymous energy reading detected. Deck 12."

As Shinji climbed back on to his feet, a groaning creak drew his gaze over to the massive bulk head. The metal was bending in, forming thousands of dents as if hundreds of creatures were ripping and tearing at the far side. Turning, Shinji and Asuka ran for the hatch leading further into the ship, only to see it cycle closed in front of them.

"Alert. Anonymous energy reading detected. All Decks."

The walls began to collapse in. Through the widening tears, foul light in colors Shinji's instinct insisted was impossible flickered and twisted. Monsters, creatures that shifted and twisted into shapes that would make Lovecraft giber in fear, pulled their way in and leaped for the two cowering morsels before them.

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It's work complete, the hidden program that had inadvertently brought so much chaos on the ship sent it's final command.

With a whine of tortured metal, the Warp drive sprung back to life.

The Sol's Fury vanished forever from the heaving currents of the Immaterium.

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To be concluded...

Vat-cloned; Pretty much as it sounds, cloning body parts or entire bodies in a vat. Mostly used either for medical purposes or providing the biological components of servitors.

Stasis field; a field that freezes time inside it. Appears to be only partially effective as the Emperor is apparently capable of extending his mind out beyond the field, most noticeably for the ritual of Soul-binding with potential astropaths.

Ultramarines; One of the largest Space marine Legions (accounting for nearly 3/4 of the marines in the field), the Ultramarines virtually held the Imperium together as other Legions recovered from their massive losses or left on Crusades of personal vengeance. Their Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, was one of the first High Lords of Terra and inscribed the Codex Astartes, which formed the basis of Space Marine combat for the next 10,000 years.

Abaddon; Later to be known as the 'Dispoiler' Abaddon was second in command of the Sons of Horus Legion. After their defeat, Abaddon took control of the Legion and lead them into the Eye of Terror. Many of the worst battles between Chaos and the Imperium were ordered or lead by him (such as the Gothic War).

Gellar field; An energy field that both protects and hides a ship from the denizens of the Warp. Interstellar travel is impossible without it.


	11. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Date: 4 524 356 M31

Author: Captain Darlean

Recipitant: Roboute Guilliman, Primarch, Adeptus Astartes Ultramarines, Terra

Transmitted: _Retribution_ class Cruiser, _Purgatus_

Transmitter: Chief Astropath, Nortius Higarties

Thought for the day: The Emperor protects those lost on the Warp.

My Lord Guilliman.

As ordered, we investigated the emergency signal from the _Sol's Fury_. No signs of debris or life pods have been found.

It is apparent that the ship, it's crew and cargo is lost to the Warp. With your permission, I intend to resume my patrol.

Ave Imperator.

Your Obedient Servant,

Captain Darlean.

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Dauntless_ Class Light Cruiser, _Hammerhead

_6 789 998 M41_

_On Patrol on the edge of the Agrapinna System, Cadian Sector_

Captain Jaroin sighed and put the data slate down on his desk, before leaning back and rubbing his eyes tiredly. This report was the latest in a long series of 'eyes-only' reports on the latest disasters that had been flooding the Cadian Sector ever since Aba… the Despoiler had begun his attack in what was becoming known as the 13th Crusade.

The Imperium had won. That's all the general population of the Cadian sector knew. Most of them didn't even know who it was that was really attacking the Imperium, what public reports had been released by High Command implied that the attackers had been a xenos raiding race. Jaroin knew that if the situation ever stabilized somewhat, the Inquisition would most likely descend wholesale on any civilian population that knew the truth.

Jaroin picked up the next data-slate and groaned at the results held there. It was exactly like the one before. The slow moving Imperial Navy had descended on the sector, and by now virtually every Chaos ship had either been destroyed or had fled back to the Eye of Terror. In space, the Imperium had slowed, stopped and turned back the Chaos invasion surprisingly well, especial after the Blackstone Fortress over Cadia had been beaten off. Unfortunately, while the space routes remained in Imperium hands, virtually any planet Chaos had touched remained a war-zone. Planets had burned, legions had died and still were dying, and the mighty fortress world of Cadia itself had been gutted. It would take years for…

Jaroin's musings were cut off by the tone of his intercom. He sighed again, before pressing the accept key.

"Captain here. Report."

"Sir," came the voice of Karmien, his executive officer, "We're getting something on the surveyors. According to the Tech-priests, it's a ship of some kind dropping out of the Warp."

"A warship?" Jaroin asked sharply.

"No… It's nearly dead. It barely has energy readings, certainly not enough for weapons or shields."

"A derelict?" Jaroin paused for a second, musing over the possibilities of salvage vs. the chance of some kind of sneak attack. Unfortunately, if this was a trap, standing orders were clear; investigate and secure for possible salvage unless there was significant danger to the local planet's population. "Right, I'm coming up. Do we have a transponder response?"

"Aye Sir, the derelict is called the _Sol's Fury_."

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The End


	12. Authors note

Author's note

I am not sure if many people have realised this, but there is now a sequel to this story on ff dot net. Check the story The Final Crusade.

Show up, read and review please, I know you're out there.

Matt


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